Why So Many Meteorites Come From The Same Place

Because of space physics, one faraway asteroid is likely the progenitor of almost a third of all the meteorites on Earth. ___________________________________________ If you want to learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: Asteroid: A rocky body smaller than a planet that is orbiting the sun. Meteoroid: A smaller rocky body moving in the solar system. Meteor: A meteoroid that has entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Meteorite: A meteor that hits the Earth. Orbital resonance: A force that occurs when orbiting bodies exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other, because of the length of their relative orbits. Kirkwood Gap: A dip in the distribution of main belt asteroids that correspond to the locations of orbital resonances with Jupiter. ___________________________________________ Credits (and Twitter handles): Script Writer: David Goldenberg (@dgoldenberg) Script Editor: Alex Reich Video Illustrator: Jorge Cham | PHD Comics Video Director: Emily Elert (@eelert) Video Narrator: Emily Elert (@eelert) With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Kate Yoshida, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder ___________________________________________ If you liked this week’s video, we think you might also like: A terrifying but fascinating look at the destructive power of potential meteorites: http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/ ___________________________________________ References: Burbine, T., McCoy, T., Meibom, A., Royer, C., Gladman, B., and Keil, K. (2002). Meteoritic Parent Bodies: Their Number and Identification. Asteroids III. 653-667. Retrieved from: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002aste.book..653B Farinella, P., Gonczi, R., Froeschle, Ch., and Froeschle, C. (1993). The Injection of Asteroid Fragments into Resonances. Icarus. 101: 174-187. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001910358371016X Fieber-Beyer, S., Gaffey, M., Bottke, W., and Hardersen, P. (2015). Potentially hazardous Asteroid 2007 LE: Compositional link to the black chondrite Rose City and Asteroid (6) Hebe. Icarus. 250: 430-437. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103514007088 Gaffey, M. and Gilbert, S. (1998). Asteroid 6 Hebe: The probable parent body of the H-type ordinary chondrites and the IIE iron meteorites. Meteoritics and Planetary Science. 33: 1281-1295. Retrieved from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01312.x/abstract Vokrouhlicky, D., and Farinella, P. (2000). Efficient delivery of meteorites to the Earth from a wide range of asteroid parent bodies. Nature. 407: 606-608. Retrieved from: https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v407/n6804/full/407606a0.html Moons, M. and Morbidelli, A. (1995). Secular Resonances in Mean Motion Commensurabilities: The 4/1, 3/1, 5/2, and 7/3 Cases. Icarus. 114: 33-50. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001910358571041X Burbine, Thomas. (2017). Assistant Professor of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts. Personal Communication.