The impact and recovery of asteroid 2008 TC3
Data(s) |
26/03/2009
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Resumo |
In the absence of a firm link between individual meteorites and their asteroidal parent bodies, asteroids are typically characterized only by their light reflection properties, and grouped accordingly into classes. On 6 October 2008, a small asteroid was discovered with a flat reflectance spectrum in the 554-995nm wavelength range, and designated 2008 TC3 (refs 4-6). It subsequently hit the Earth. Because it exploded at 37km altitude, no macroscopic fragments were expected to survive. Here we report that a dedicated search along the approach trajectory recovered 47 meteorites, fragments of a single body named Almahata Sitta, with a total mass of 3.95kg. Analysis of one of these meteorites shows it to be an achondrite, a polymict ureilite, anomalous in its class: ultra-fine-grained and porous, with large carbonaceous grains. The combined asteroid and meteorite reflectance spectra identify the asteroid as F class, now firmly linked to dark carbon-rich anomalous ureilites, a material so fragile it was not previously represented in meteorite collections. |
Identificador |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature07920 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=63649103401&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
Idioma(s) |
eng |
Direitos |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
Fonte |
Jenniskens , P , Shaddad , M H , Numan , D , Elsir , S , Kudoda , A M , Zolensky , M E , Le , L , Robinson , G A , Friedrich , J M , Rumble , D , Steele , A , Chesley , S R , Fitzsimmons , A , Duddy , S , Hsieh , H , Ramsay , G , Brown , P G , Edwards , W N , Tagliaferri , E , Boslough , M B , Spalding , R E , Dantowitz , R , Kozubal , M , Pravec , P , Borovicka , J , Charvat , Z , Vaubaillon , J , Kuiper , J , Albers , J , Bishop , J L , Mancinelli , R L , Sandford , S A , Milam , S N , Nuevo , M & Worden , S P 2009 , ' The impact and recovery of asteroid 2008 TC3 ' Nature , vol 458 , no. 7237 , pp. 485-488 . DOI: 10.1038/nature07920 |
Palavras-Chave | #/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1000 #General |
Tipo |
article |