Meteorites & Asteroids Archives

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found an iron meteorite on Mars, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet. The pitted, basketball-size object is mostly made of iron and nickel. Readings from spectrometers on the rover determined that composition. Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take the images used in this approximately true-color composite on the rover's 339th martian day, or sol (Jan. 6, 2005). This composite combines images taken through the panoramic camera's 600-nanometer (red), 530-nanometer (green), and 480-nanometer (blue) filters. -- Larger image

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Meteorites and Planet Formation

by Keith CowingMay 8, 2024May 8, 2024

Meteorites are a remarkable resource. They capture the imagination of people worldwide with their spectacular entry through Earth’s atmosphere as fireballs, and their exotic character of being pieces of other […]

Mosaic of optical images of the surfaces of the two Phobos simulants (UTPS and OPPS) that were investigated, as well as the endmembers of the OPPS. The bright spots visible in OPPS correspond to those in DECS-19. DECS-19 grains tend to have large facets and diffuse light in specular reflection, resulting in bright spots. Each scale bar represents 1 mm. Grains morphology and size were investigated using SEM images. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Phobos, Status Report

Spectro-photometry of Phobos simulants: I. Detectability of Hydrated Minerals and Organic Bands

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2024July 23, 2026

Previous observations of Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, have improved our understanding of these small bodies. However, their formation and composition remain poorly constrained.

Modeled mixtures of magnesium rich pyroxenes and olivines plotted alongside the spectrum of 267 Tirza and 1268 Libya. The addition of pyroxene to the olivine mixtures changes the behavior of the spectrum at long wavelengths, broadening this emission feature from the distinct emission peak(s) seen in the spectra of olivine and pyroxene alone. Spectral features of olivine are marked in light green and of pyroxenes are marked in dark purple to highlight commonalities with the asteroid spectra. The feature at 19.5 µm is common to both olivine and pyroxene. The spectrum of 267 Tirza in particular shows evidence of both olivine and pyroxene. All mixtures shown here contain both amorphous and crystalline silicates mixed in a 3:1 ratio, while the proportion of olivine and pyroxene is varied. The shaded grey box highlights the location of a known artefact in the SL Spitzer data (the SL teardrop). Spectra of crystalline silicates are sourced from Koike et al. (2003) and Chihara et al. (2002), spectra of amorphous silicates are derived from optical constants from J¨ager et al. (1994); Dorschner et al. (1995) and J¨ager et al. (2003) (see text for modeling details and silicate compositions). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Comparative Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Dark, Primitive Asteroids: Does Shared Taxonomic Class Indicate Shared Silicate Composition?

by Keith CowingMay 1, 2024May 1, 2024

Primitive asteroids with low albedos and red slopes in the visible and near infrared (VNIR) are found in both the Main Belt and the Jupiter Trojan clouds.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Conferences and Meetings, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return, Status Report

Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) Spring 2024 Meeting

by Keith CowingApril 25, 2024April 25, 2024

May 13–15, 2024Houston, Texas/Virtual

Final distributions of planets at 𝑡 = 200 Myr, in four sets of simulations with different instability times. The timing of the instability is indicated at the top of each panel, relative to the time of the gas disk dispersal. Each panel shows the results of simulations considering rings with different radial surface density profiles. The x-axis shows planets’s semi-major axis. The y-axis shows the planets’ mass. Light-grey dots show planets produced in our simulations. The four dark-grey dots represent the real terrestrial planets. The giant planet dynamical instability is mimicked by assuming that Jupiter and Saturn instantaneously jump from their pre-instability orbits to their current ones at 𝑡 = 𝑡 inst.-- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Implantation Of Asteroids From The Terrestrial Planet Region: The Effect Of The Timing Of The Giant Planet Instability

by Keith CowingApril 24, 2024April 24, 2024

The dynamical architecture and compositional diversity of the asteroid belt strongly constrain planet formation models.

Aqueous chemistry inside meteorite parent bodies allows the formation of prebiotic molecules crucial for all life in the early solar system. We present a reaction mechanism suitable for vitamin B3 synthesis in this environment, which is experimentally verified in the literature. Vitamin B3 was transported to the Hadean Earth by meteorite falls and initiated redox chemistry in the form of NAD(P)H, potentially participating in the origins of life. -- ChemPlusChem

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Interstellar, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Prebiotic Vitamin B3 Synthesis in Carbonaceous Planetesimals

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2024April 23, 2024

Aqueous chemistry within carbonaceous planetesimals is promising for synthesizing prebiotic organic matter essential to all life. Meteorites derived from these planetesimals delivered these life building blocks to the early Earth, […]

The opened science canister in the glovebox at JSC. The cylindrical TAGSAM head is positioned in the center of the avionics deck. Dark particles and dust can be seen on the avionics deck, the top of TAGSAM, and the inside of the canister’s lid. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Exploration Gear & Tech, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return, Status Report

Asteroid (101955) Bennu In The Laboratory: Properties Of The Sample Collected By OSIRIS-REx

by Keith CowingApril 22, 2024April 22, 2024

On 24 September 2023, the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission dropped a capsule to Earth containing approximately 120 g of pristine carbonaceous regolith from Bennu.

Secondary electron (SE) SEM images of a CI (a and c) and CM (b and d) simulant pellet before and after irradiation. Panels a and b show images of the fresh material, while panels c and d are of representative laser-irradiated regions. The white scale bar at the lower left side of each panel corresponds to 2 𝜇𝑚 in length. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report

Laser Irradiation of Carbonaceous Chondrite Simulants: Space Weathering Implications for C-complex Asteroids

by Keith CowingApril 19, 2024

Surfaces of carbonaceous asteroids (C-complex) have shown diverse contrasting spectral variations, which may be related to space weathering.

Schematic diagram of our preferred scenario. Red circles are planetesimals (and their fragments) from the terrestrial planet region. The black solid curves roughly denote the boundary of the current asteroid inner main belt. Eccentricity increases from bottom to top. Each panel shows the proposed evolution of the inner Solar System at different time ranges: (A) Formation and cooling of the EL planetesimal in the terrestrial planet region before 60 Myr after Solar System formation. In this period, the terrestrial planets began scattering planetesimals to orbits with high eccentricity and semimajor axes that correspond to the asteroid main belt. (B) Between 60 and 100 Myr, the EL planetesimal was destroyed by an impact in the terrestrial planet region. At least one fragment (the Athor family progenitor) was scattered by the terrestrial planets into the scattered disk, as in (A), then the giant planet instability implanted it into the inner main belt by decreasing its eccentricity. (C) A few tens of millions of years after the giant planet instability occurred, a giant impact between the planetary embryo Theia and proto-Earth formed the Moon. (D) The Athor family progenitor experienced another impact event that formed the Athor family at ~1500 Myr. -- Science

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Gas Giants, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Dating The Solar System’s Giant Planet Migration Using Chondrite Meteorites

by Keith CowingApril 16, 2024April 16, 2024

The period of orbital instability that led to the migration of the Solar System’s giant planets to their current orbit occurred between 60 and 100 million years after the beginning […]

Antarctic meteorite (HUT 18036) partially in the ice, in contrast to most samples that are collected while lying on the surface. Meteorite collected by the Lost Meteorites of Antarctica project. CREDIT Katherine Joy, The University of Manchester, The Lost Meteorites of Antarctica project.

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Climate Change Threatens Antarctic Meteorites

by Keith CowingApril 9, 2024

Using artificial intelligence, satellite observations, and climate model projections, a team of researchers from Switzerland and Belgium calculate that for every tenth of a degree of increase in global air […]

Meteorites & Asteroids

Meteorites and Planet Formation

Spectro-photometry of Phobos simulants: I. Detectability of Hydrated Minerals and Organic Bands

Comparative Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Dark, Primitive Asteroids: Does Shared Taxonomic Class Indicate Shared Silicate Composition?

Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) Spring 2024 Meeting

Implantation Of Asteroids From The Terrestrial Planet Region: The Effect Of The Timing Of The Giant Planet Instability

Prebiotic Vitamin B3 Synthesis in Carbonaceous Planetesimals

Asteroid (101955) Bennu In The Laboratory: Properties Of The Sample Collected By OSIRIS-REx

Laser Irradiation of Carbonaceous Chondrite Simulants: Space Weathering Implications for C-complex Asteroids

Dating The Solar System’s Giant Planet Migration Using Chondrite Meteorites

Climate Change Threatens Antarctic Meteorites

Inspecting A Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DRAMS) Transducer

NASA Explores Potential Commercial Servicing for Hubble Telescope

The Fate of Ice Sheets on Near-Synchronously Rotating Land Planets

Extraterrestrial Chemical Boundary Conditions and Evolutionary Opportunity Space on Early Earth

Complex Organic Molecules in Protostars with ALMA Spectral Surveys (COMPASS) III. CH3OH isotopic fractionation in the low-mass protostar BHR71-IRS1