New Meteorite: Asteroids More Complex Than Thought

New Meteorite Suggests That Asteroid Surfaces More Complex Than Previously Thought

Dec. 20, 2012 — Meteorites that had fallen from an asteroid impact that lit up the skies over California and Nevada in April are showing scientists just how complex an asteroid surface can be. A new study published in Science this week by an international team of researchers describes the speedy recovery of the meteorites and reports that this space rock is an unusual example from a rare group known as carbonaceous chondrites, which contain some of the oldest material in the solar system. The study of these meteorites and others like them could hold answers to unsolved mysteries about the origin of life on Earth as they contain molecules such as water and amino acids.

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These are some of the 77 fragments of the Sutter’s Mill meteorite fall that were collected in April 2012. (Credit: NASA/E. James)

"We found that this meteorite is a 'breccia,' a mixture of different rocks that accumulated at the surface of a larger asteroid, and those surfaces can be more diverse than we thought before," said co-author Denton Ebel, chair of the Division of Physical Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History.

More - Link >>> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121220144153.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fspace_time+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Space+%26+Time+News%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Sources:  American Museum of Natural History, ScienceDaily.com .

Related Blog Post --

Calif. Meteorites May Change Life-on-Earth Theory (2012 Dec. 29):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2012/12/calif-meteorites-may-change-life-on.html

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