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Science 14 November 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5904, p. 1050
DOI: 10.1126/science.1161585
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Technical Comments

Response to Comment on "Ancient Asteroids Enriched in Refractory Inclusions"

J. M. Sunshine,1* H. C. Connolly, Jr.,2,3,4 T. J. McCoy,5 S. J. Bus,6 L. M. La Croix5,7

Although the exact abundance of phases in carbonaceous chondrites remains debatable, a potentially lower absolute abundance of calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) in the Allende meteorite does not change our fundamental conclusion. In a relative comparison, CAI-rich asteroids contain two to three times as many CAIs as the most CAI-rich meteorites. These asteroids are therefore greatly enriched in the earliest solar system materials and remain enticing targets for future exploration.

1 Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
2 Department of Physical Sciences, Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11235, USA.
3 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
4 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 11024, USA.
5 Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
6 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.
7 Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jess{at}astro.umd.edu

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