Govind Tekale
Meteorites
Three young asteroid families between Mars and Jupiter source 70% of Earth's meteorites - but which ones?
Photo Source- CNRS
Massalia family leads meteorite contributions at 37%, solving a long-standing cosmic puzzle.
Scientists used telescopes and computer simulations to trace 70,000 meteorites back to their origins.
Photo Source- Steve Jurvetson (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Source- ESO (CC BY 4.0)
What makes young asteroid families more likely to produce Earth-bound meteorites?
These asteroid families formed from massive collisions just 5.8, 7.5, and 40 million years ago.
Photo Source- NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (CC BY 2.0)
Before this study, scientists could only trace 6% of meteorites to their sources.
Space probes returned samples from asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, revealing their shared family history.
Photo Source- Kestrel (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Recent asteroid belt activity directly influences meteorite flow to Earth, changing previous theories.
Each meteorite carries preserved information about our solar system's early composition and temperature.
Photo Source- Jon Taylor (CC BY-SA 2.0)
NOAA’s First Space-Based Coronagraph CCOR-1: Tracking Solar Threats with High Precision on GOES-19