Revealing Details about the H Chondrite Parent Body

Written byAaron GronstalSourceGeochimica and Cosmochimica Acta

Researchers have reported elemental and isotopic data for seven ordinary H chondrites. The data reveals information about the conditions under which the meteorites formed and the parent body from which they originated. The results are also compared to models for H meteorite formation and could help validate their accuracy.

This artist's conception shows how families of asteroids are created. Over the history of our solar system, catastrophic collisions between asteroids located in the belt between Mars and Jupiter have formed families of objects on similar orbits around the

This artist's conception of collisions between asteroids located in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

In addition, the study includes an examination of one CR chondrite as a comparison. Previous studies have suggested that CR meteorites originate from an object that condensed from the solar nebula. However, the CR chondrite results indicates that metals in the meteorite are too young to be direct nebular condensate.

The study, “Siderophile Element Constraints on the Thermal History of the H Chondrite Parent body,” was published in the journal Geochimica and Cosmochimica Acta. This work was supported by the Emerging Worlds Program. The NASA Astrobiology Program provides resources for Emerging Worlds and other Research and Analysis programs within the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) that solicit proposals relevant to astrobiology research.