Discovery of the source of the most common meteorites

“Visible spectroscopy of extremely young asteroid families”, by Mothe-Diniz and Nesvorn

Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, 2008, vol. 486-2, pp. L9-L12

When observing with the GEMINI telescopes, two astronomers from Brazil and the United States discovered for the first time asteroids that are similar to “ordinary chondrites”, the most common meteorites found on Earth. Until now, astronomers have failed to identify their asteroidal sources because of the various geologic processes that occur after the meteorites are ejected from their asteroidal parent body. This discovery is being published this week in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first discovery by T. Mothe-Diniz (Brazil) and D. Nesvorn