Where
do meteorites come from?
The origin of rocks from
space with Parent Body Pairings!
There is a theory that certain classes of meteorites originate
from a particular 'parent body' in our solar system. During
significant disruption to the parent body, pieces can be broken
off such as when two asteroids collide. Some of these pieces
then make it to Earth. While the Martian and Lunar meteorites
are virtually un-arguably from Mars and the Moon, it is only
really educated speculation about the other classes. Because we
have been to the Moon and Mars, it is possible to classify
meteorites using the data collected from those missions. With
the other classifications, we need to use methods like spectral
analysis to determine their origin. Listed below are some
meteorite classifications and the name of the parent body they
are thought to originate from.
Ordinary
Chondrites:
H
- Chondrites: Asteroid: Hebe
L
- Chondrites:
L4: Asteroid: Eros
L6: Asteroid: 3628 Bozemcova
LL-
Chondrites: Asteroid: 1998 SF36
Carbonaceous
Chondrites:
CM2:
Asteroid: Ceres & Asteroid: 19 Fortuna
CR2: Asteroid: 2 Pallas
CO3: Eos Asteroid Family
Achondrites:
Aubrites:
Asteroid: 44 Nysa & Asteroid: 3103 Eger
Branchinites: Asteroid: 289 Nenetta
Howardites: Asteroid:
Vesta (or Vesta-type asteroids)
Eucrites: Asteroid:
Vesta (or Vesta-type asteroids)
Diogenites: Asteroid:
Vesta (or Vesta-type asteroids)
Olivine Diogenites: Asteroid:
Vesta (or Vesta-type asteroids)
Shergottites:
Planet: Mars
Nakhlaites:
Planet: Mars
Chassignites:
Planet: Mars
Lunar:
The Moon
LUN-A: Lunar Highland Breccias
LUN-B: Lunar Mare Basalt
Stony/Irons:
Pallasites:
A-type asteroids; eg. Asteroid: 46 Asporina & Asteroid:
354 Eleonora.
Irons:
M-type asteroids;
eg. Asteroid: Psyche & Asteroid: 1986DA.
If
anyone knows of some more pairings; please don't hesitate to let
me know.
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