Editing 16 Psyche (section)

===Origin===
Several possible origins have been proposed for Psyche. The earliest of these was that Psyche is an exposed [[Planetary core|metallic core]] resulting from a collision that stripped away the crust and [[Mantle (geology)|mantle]] of an originally larger [[Planetary differentiation|differentiated]] parent body some 500&nbsp;kilometers in diameter.<ref name="Bell_AsteroidsII" /> Other versions of this include the idea that it was not the result of a single large collision but multiple (more than three) relatively slow sideswipe collisions with bodies of comparable or larger size.<ref name=Asphaug-Reufer-2014/> However, this idea has fallen out of recent favor as mass and density estimates are inconsistent with a remnant core.<ref name="Elkins-Tanton_2020" />

A second hypothesis is that Psyche was disrupted and gravitationally re-accreted into a mix of metal and silicate.<ref name=Davis-Farinella-Francesco-1999/> In this case, it may be a candidate for the parent body of the [[mesosiderite]]s, a class of [[stony–iron meteorite]]s.<ref name=Davis-Farinella-Francesco-1999/>

A third hypothesis is that Psyche may be a differentiated object, like [[Ceres (dwarf planet)|1 Ceres]] and [[4 Vesta]], but has experienced a type of iron volcanism, also known as ferrovolcanism, while still cooling.<ref name="Johnson_ferrovolcanism"/> If true, this model predicts that metal would be highly enriched only in those regions containing (relic) volcanic centers. This view has been bolstered by recent radar observations.<ref name=Shepard2021/>