Deconstructing Castalia: Evaluating a postimpact state

We describe the rotational and translational states of the fragments of a disrupted asteroid. All the fragments are found to be in complex rotation and have widely varying rotation periods. Although this is only one example of a possible collision, the numerical results for small fragment rotation rates are consistent with recent observations, including the small asteroid 1998KY26, and they lend insight into the latter stages of impact disruption. In particular, fragment "memory" of parental rotation appears to be negligible. This is the most comprehensive description to date of the state of an asteroid or comet immediately following a disruptive collision. (C) 1999 Academic Press.