Impact fragments from asteroids by mutual collisions and cosmic dust bombardments Original Research Article

We estimated a production rate of collisional debris from asteroids, both for the case of mutual collisions of asteroids and for the case of impacts of interstellar dust onto asteroids. The total mass of fragments produced by mutual collisions for km-sized asteroids, occurred once per 106 years, is higher than that by the impacts of interstellar dust. However, it is found that the production of small grains from a km-sized asteroid by impacts of interstellar dust becomes about 105 to 106 kg during 106 years. Consequently, the impacts of interstellar dust have a potential ability to supply a significant amount of dust in the diffuse dust cloud in the asteroid belt.