Related papers: Olivine-dominated asteroids: Mineralogy and origin
V-type asteroids are a taxonomic class whose surface is associated to a basaltic composition. The only known source of V-type asteroids in the Main Asteroid Belt is (4) Vesta, that is located in the inner part of the belt. However, many…
Non-differentiated asteroids are among the most primitive objects in our Solar System, having escaped intense heating mechanisms. To help us understand the information contained in reflectance spectra measured on asteroids, we analyzed…
While proper orbital elements are currently available for more than 1 million asteroids, taxonomical information is still lagging behind. Surveys like SDSS-MOC4 provided preliminary information for more than 100,000 objects, but many…
Anhydrous pyroxene-rich interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) have been proposed as surface analogs for about two-thirds of all C-complex asteroids. However, this suggestion appears to be inconsistent with the presence of hydrated silicates…
We investigated the spectral and compositional properties of Chelyabinsk meteorite to identify its possible parent body in the main asteroid belt. Our analysis shows that the meteorite contains two spectrally distinct but compositionally…
Meteoroids impacting the Earth on a daily basis are fragments of asteroids and comets. By studying fireballs produced during their disintegration in the atmosphere, we can gain information about their source regions and the properties of…
The size distribution of asteroids in the solar system suggests that they formed top-down, with 100-1000 km bodies forming from the gravitational collapse of dense clumps of small solid particles. We investigate the conditions under which…
The Milky Way bulge-bar is composed of multiple populations. Using chemical and kinematical planes, we segregate six populations in a bulge-bar sample observed by the APOGEE survey: two with bar-driven orbits, two with eccentric orbits, and…
We explore experimentally possible explanations of the polarization curves of the sunlight reflected by the Barbarian asteroids. Their peculiar polarization curves are characterized by a large inversion angle, around 30 degrees, which could…
C-complex asteroids, rich in carbonaceous materials, are potential sources of Earth's volatile inventories. They are spectrally dark resembling primitive carbonaceous meteorites, and thus, C-complex asteroids are thought to be potential…
The observationally complete sample of the main belt asteroids now spans more than two orders of magnitude in size and numbers more than 64,000 (excluding collisional family members). We undertook an analysis of asteroids' eccentricities…
Major element fractionation among chondrites has been discussed for decades as ratios relative to Si or Mg. Recently, by expressing ratios relative to Fe, I discovered a new relationship admitting the possibility that ordinary chondrite…
We carried out low-resolution optical spectroscopy of 51 main-belt asteroids, most of which have highly-inclined orbits. They are selected from D-type candidates in the SDSS-MOC 4 catalog. Using the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope and…
Rare-earth manganites are fascinating, because they display a wide variety of fundamental properties from magnetism to ferroelectricity, from colossal magnetoresistance to semi-metallicity, and because they can be used in a number of…
Asteroids formed in a dynamically quiescent disk but their orbits became gravitationally stirred enough by Jupiter to lead to high-speed collisions. As a result, many dozen large asteroids have been disrupted by impacts over the age of the…
We present deep high-resolution (R~15,000) and high-quality UVES optical spectrophotometry of nine planetary nebulae with dual-dust chemistry. We compute physical conditions from several diagnostics. Ionic abundances for a large number of…
Most meteoritic calcium-rich, aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) formed from a reservoir with ${}^{26}{\rm Al}/{}^{27}{\rm Al} \approx 5 \times 10^{-5}$, but some record lower $({}^{26}{\rm Al}/{}^{27}{\rm Al})_0$, demanding they sampled a…
Given the compositional diversity of asteroids, and their distribution in space, it is impossible to consider returning samples from each one to establish their origin. However, the velocity and molecular composition of primary minerals,…
This concept article discusses the challenges of identifying planetary-origin meteorites of non-igneous composition, primarily of sedimentary origin, distinct from SNC meteorites. The paper reviews evidence on putative sedimentary-origin…
Most C-complex asteroids have albedo values less than 0.1, but there are some high-albedo (bright) C-complex asteroids with albedo values exceeding 0.1. To reveal the nature and origin of bright C-complex asteroids, we conducted…