Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 12 July 1985:
Vol. 229. no. 4709, pp. 160 - 163
DOI: 10.1126/science.229.4709.160
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Near-Earth Asteroids: Possible Sources from Reflectance Spectroscopy

LUCY A. MCFADDEN 1, MICHAEL J. GAFFEY 2, and THOMAS B. MCCORD 2

1 Astronomy Program, University of Maryland, College Park 20742
2 Planetary Geosciences Division, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822

Spectra of near-Earth asteroids were compared to spectra of selected asteroids, planets, and satellites to determine possible source regions. The diversity of reflectance spectra of the near-Earth asteroids implies different mineralogical compositions and hence more than one source region. The presence of near-Earth asteroid spectral signatures similar to those of certain main-belt asteroids supports models that derive some of these asteroids from the 5:2 Kirkwood gap and the Flora family by gravitational perturbations. Planetary and satellite surfaces are different in composition than the near-Earth asteroids, which is in agreement with theoretical arguments that such bodies should not be sources. Some near-Earth asteroids supply portions of Earth's meteorite flux, but other sources must also contribute.

Submitted on October 10, 1984
Accepted on March 8, 1985


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Oxygen and Asteroids.
T. H. Burbine, A. S. Rivkin, S. K. Noble, T. Mothe-Diniz, W. F. Bottke, T. J. McCoy, M. D. Dyar, and C. A. Thomas (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 273-343
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Meteorite provenance and the asteroid connection.
A. J. Bowden (2006)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 256, 379-403
   Abstract »    PDF »
Discovery of a Main-Belt Asteroid Resembling Ordinary Chondrite Meteorites.
R. P. Binzel, R. P. Binzel, S. Xu, S. J. Bus, M. F. Skrutskie, M. R. Meyer, P. Knezek, and E. S. Barker (1993)
Science 262, 1541-1543
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)