This melting is caused by the radioactive decay of aluminum-26 (Al-26), an unstable isotope of aluminum. As it decays, Al-26 generates so much heat that it essentially melts the material around it. “In this process,” explains Martins, “a lot of volatiles are degassed.” Once vaporized, the volatiles simply drift away into space: “[They are] lost due to the low gravity of these small bodies.”
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