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Science 16 September 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5742, pp. 1847 - 1850
DOI: 10.1126/science.1113544
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Reports

The Origin of Planetary Impactors in the Inner Solar System

Robert G. Strom,1 Renu Malhotra,1* Takashi Ito,2 Fumi Yoshida,2 David A. Kring1

Insights into the history of the inner solar system can be derived from the impact cratering record of the Moon, Mars, Venus, and Mercury and from the size distributions of asteroid populations. Old craters from a unique period of heavy bombardment that ended ~3.8 billion years ago were made by asteroids that were dynamically ejected from the main asteroid belt, possibly due to the orbital migration of the giant planets. The impactors of the past ~3.8 billion years have a size distribution quite different from that of the main belt asteroids but very similar to that of near-Earth asteroids.

1 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
2 National Astronomical Observatory, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: renu{at}lpl.arizona.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)