asteroid Archives

Asteroid that created Chicxulub crater Credit: NASA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Comets and Asteroids, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids

The Chicxulub Impactor Was A Carbonaceous-type Asteroid From Beyond Jupiter

by Editor PostedAugust 15, 2024August 19, 2024

Scientists have pinpointed the origin and composition of the asteroid that caused the mass extinction 66 million years ago, revealing it was a rare carbonaceous asteroid from beyond Jupiter, according […]

An SwRI-led team used NASA’s Webb telescope, shown in the bottom right corner of this illustration, to confirm the presence of hydrated minerals on the surface of Psyche, a massive and heavily metallic body in the main asteroid belt. These findings suggest a complex history for this interesting asteroid, which many scientists think could be the remnant core of a protoplanet, including impacts with hydrated asteroids. -- SWRI

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Evidence Of Hydration Has Been Found On Metallic Asteroid Psyche

by Keith CowingAugust 14, 2024August 14, 2024

Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a Southwest Research Institute-led team has confirmed hydroxyl molecules on the surface of the metallic asteroid Psyche. The presence of hydrated minerals […]

Left column: Both colorbar and isolines show fit quality as a function of planetesimal radius R and accretion time for CR1-3 chondrites (first row) and the Flensburg chondite (second row). Best-fit accretion times correspond from top to bottom to Ma and Ma. The exemplary parent bodies from the respective minimum fit quality regions with km and Ma and km and Ma, from top to bottom, are indicated with red dots. Right column: Thermal evolution at the best-fit depths d of respective meteorites for representative best-fit parent bodies indicated by red dots in the left column. Dashed red lines show the maximum metamorphic temperature estimates from petrological constraints (see also supplementary material). Color patches show PB accretion time intervals. The accretion time of the CR clan Tafassite PB is included for completeness. -- Scientific Reports

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Ceres, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars, Mercury, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Building Materials For Water-rich Planets In The Early Solar System

by Keith CowingJuly 25, 2024July 25, 2024

Age data for certain classes of meteorite have made it possible to gain new findings on the origin of small water-rich astronomical bodies in the early solar system. These so-called […]

OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Re-Entry -- NASA

Comets and Asteroids, Exploration Gear & Tech, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return, Status Report

Geophysical Observations Of OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Re-Entry

by Keith CowingJuly 10, 2024July 7, 2024

Sample Return Capsules (SRCs) entering Earth’s atmosphere at hypervelocity from interplanetary space are a valuable resource for studying meteor phenomena.

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 (including on circular witness plates), and the inside of the canister's lid. NASA

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

Asteroid Bennu: Properties Of The Sample Collected By OSIRIS-REx

by Keith CowingJuly 8, 2024July 7, 2024

On September 24, 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission dropped a capsule to Earth containing ~120 g of pristine carbonaceous regolith from Bennu. We describe the delivery and initial allocation of this asteroid […]

Observed SFDs of C-type asteroid families. The SFDs usually exhibit a steep slope q1 at sizes D ≳ 5 km and a shallow slope q2 at D ≲ 5 km. This break is often created in the course of collisonal evolution. An observational bias affects the SFDs at even smaller sizes (0.5-3 km), depending on the distance and albedo of the respective populations. Additionally, families of P, B and M types were studied (together with 4 of unknown taxonomical classification). -- astro-ph.EP

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

Source Regions of Carbonaceous Meteorites and NEOs

by Keith CowingJuly 3, 2024July 1, 2024

The present work aims to determine the source regions of carbonaceous chondrites (CM, CI, CO, CV, CK, CR, CH, CB, or C-ungrouped). We studied 38 individual asteroid families, including young […]

Astronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Study Finds Rogue Planets Can Become Permanently Trapped in Sun’s Orbit

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2024June 27, 2024

Objects from interstellar space, such as rogue planets and asteroids, can become permanently trapped in the Sun’s orbit as a result of the combined gravitational effects of the Sun and […]

Shock-fractured quartz grains from (c) Pars-45 quartz grain 09x-12. Composite color (RGB) CL image. Blue represents unmelted quartz; orange represents melted quartz that has been annealed; black represents fractures filled with amorphous silica. Note that the fractures in this grain radiate from the area at the upper right, potentially resulting from a high-pressure collision with another grain. -- ScienceOpen.com

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Comets and Asteroids, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Shocked Quartz Reveals Evidence Of Historical Cosmic Airburst During The Younger Dryas

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2024June 27, 2024

Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth’s atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a widespread […]

A microscope image of a dark Bennu particle, about a millimeter long, with a crust of bright phosphate. To the right is a smaller fragment that broke off. Credits: From Lauretta & Connolly et al. (2024) Meteoritics & Planetary Science, doi:10.1111/maps.14227.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Sample Return

An OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Has Surprising Phosphate Content

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2024June 27, 2024

Scientists have eagerly awaited the opportunity to dig into the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) pristine asteroid Bennu sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) […]

Ratio of the cumulative collision rate of comets with the Earth analog to the cumulative collision rate of carbonaceous asteroids with the Earth analog. The cumulative collision rates are reset at the time of the Moon-forming impact; and the ratio is set to 0 when the cumulative collision rates of carbonaceous asteroids (denominator) equals 0. So the dashed line shows the number of collisions with comets relative to the number of collisions with carbonaceous asteroids (weighted by their respective numbers in our simulations) on Earth since gas disk dispersal until the Moon-forming impact; and the solid line shows the same relative number since the Moon-forming impact until the end of the simulation. While cumulative collision rates of comets with Earth are ≃ 4 orders of magnitude smaller than those of carbonaceous asteroids before the Moon-forming impact, they are between 3 and 7 orders of magnitude smaller after the Moon-forming impact. In 30% of our simulations, there is about 1 comet every 103 carbonaceous asteroids colliding with the Earth after the Moon-forming event, which is consistent with the total cometary mass expected during late accretion. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Extinction events, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Moon, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Crash Chronicles: Relative Contribution From Comets and Carbonaceous Asteroids to Earth’s Volatile Budget In The Context of an Early Instability

by Keith CowingJune 25, 2024June 25, 2024

Recent models of solar system formation suggest that a dynamical instability among the giant planets happened within the first 100 Myr after disk dispersal, perhaps before the Moon-forming impact. As […]