Spectral Properties of Near-Earth Asteroids: Evidence for Sources of Ordinary Chondrite Meteorites
- 16 August 1996
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 273 (5277), 946-948
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.273.5277.946
Abstract
Although ordinary chondrite (OC) meteorites dominate observed falls, the identification of near-Earth and main-belt asteroid sources has remained elusive. Telescopic measurements of 35 near-Earth asteroids (∼3 kilometers in diameter) revealed six that have visible wavelength spectra similar to laboratory spectra of OC meteorites. Near-Earth asteroids were found to have spectral properties that span the range between the previously separated domains of OC meteorites and the most common (S class) asteroids, suggesting a link. This range of spectral properties could arise through a diversity of mineralogies and regolith particle sizes, as well as through a time-dependent surface weathering process.This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey: Initial ResultsIcarus, 1995
- Discovery and physical properties of Dactyl, a satellite of asteroid 243 IdaNature, 1995
- Discovery of a Main-Belt Asteroid Resembling Ordinary Chondrite MeteoritesScience, 1993
- Chips off of Asteroid 4 Vesta: Evidence for the Parent Body of Basaltic Achondrite MeteoritesScience, 1993
- Origins for the Near-Earth AsteroidsScience, 1992
- Near-Earth Asteroids: Possible Sources from Reflectance SpectroscopyScience, 1985
- Meteorites may follow a chaotic route to EarthNature, 1985
- The eight-color asteroid survey: Results for 589 minor planetsIcarus, 1985
- Rotational spectral variations of asteroid (8) Flora: Implications for the nature of the S-type asteroids and for the parent bodies of the ordinary chondritesIcarus, 1984
- Chaotic behavior and the origin of the 31 Kirkwood gapIcarus, 1983