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Almahata Sitta (=asteroid 2008 TC 3 ) and the search for the ureilite parent body
Author(s) -
JENNISKENS Peter,
VAUBAILLON Jérémie,
BINZEL Richard P.,
DeMEO Francesca E.,
NESVORNÝ David,
BOTTKE William F.,
FITZSIMMONS Alan,
HIROI Takahiro,
MARCHIS Franck,
BISHOP Janice L.,
VERNAZZA Pierre,
ZOLENSKY Michael E.,
HERRIN Jason S.,
WELTEN Kees C.,
MEIER Matthias M. M.,
SHADDAD Muawia H.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2010.01153.x
Subject(s) - asteroid , meteorite , asteroid belt , parent body , astrobiology , population , space weathering , geology , chondrite , physics , demography , sociology
– This article explores what the recovery of 2008 TC 3 in the form of the Almahata Sitta meteorites may tell us about the source region of ureilites in the main asteroid belt. An investigation is made into what is known about asteroids with roughly the same spectroscopic signature as 2008 TC 3 . A population of low‐inclination near‐Earth asteroids is identified with spectra similar to 2008 TC 3 . Five asteroid families in the Main Belt, as well as a population of ungrouped asteroids scattered in the inner and central belts, are identified as possible source regions for this near‐Earth population and 2008 TC 3 . Three of the families are ruled out on dynamical and spectroscopic grounds. New near‐infrared spectra of 142 Polana and 1726 Hoffmeister, lead objects in the two other families, also show a poor match to Almahata Sitta. Thus, there are no Main Belt spectral analogs to Almahata Sitta currently known. Space weathering effects on ureilitic materials have not been investigated, so that it is unclear how the spectrum of the Main Belt progenitor may look different from the spectra of 2008 TC 3 and the Almahata Sitta meteorites. Dynamical arguments are discussed, as well as ureilite petrogenesis and parent body evolution models, but these considerations do not conclusively point to a source region either, other than that 2008 TC 3 probably originated in the inner asteroid belt.