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Spectral Properties of Near-Earth Asteroids: Evidence for Sources of Ordinary Chondrite Meteorites
1R. P. Binzel, S. J. Bus, T. H. Burbine, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. J. M. Sunshine, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, and Science Applications International Corporation, 4501 Daly Drive, Chantilly, VA 22021, USA.
Abstract:
Although ordinary chondrite (OC) meteorites dominate observed falls, the identification of near-Earth and main-belt asteroid sources has remained elusive. Telescopic measurements of 35 near-Earth asteroids ( approximately3 kilometers in diameter) revealed six that have visible wavelength spectra similar to laboratory spectra of OC meteorites. Near-Earth asteroids were found to have spectral properties that span the range between the previously separated domains of OC meteorites and the most common (S class) asteroids, suggesting a link. This range of spectral properties could arise through a diversity of mineralogies and regolith particle sizes, as well as through a time-dependent surface weathering process.