Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
Scientists have traced the source of more than 70% of meteorites that have hit Earth to specific asteroid families, providing valuable insight into the composition and history of the solar system.
About 466 million years ago, Earth experienced a heavy bombardment of meteorites, believed to have resulted from a large asteroid breaking apart in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This event significantly contributed to the number of meteorites that reached Earth.
The Massalia asteroid family, a group of asteroids sharing similar orbits, is responsible for 40% of the meteorites that have fallen to Earth. This family likely originated from a large asteroid that fragmented millions of years ago.
New research highlights that three asteroid families—Karin, Koronis, and Massalia—are responsible for over 70% of Earth-bound meteorites. These families were formed by collisions in the asteroid belt over the past 40 million years.
The Karin family was formed around 5.8 million years ago, the Koronis family 7.5 million years ago, and the Massalia family 40 million years ago. These events continue to affect the number of meteorites reaching Earth today.
Researchers suggest that the collisional activity within these asteroid families is ongoing, leading to a continuous production of meteorites that fall to Earth. This process is still shaping the flux of space material impacting our planet.
Meteorites that have fallen to Earth preserve information about the early solar system, offering insights into the protoplanetary disk and helping scientists understand the compositional and thermal gradients that existed billions of years ago.
By linking meteorites to specific asteroid families, scientists aim to reconstruct the early history of the solar system, gaining a deeper understanding of its formation and evolution through the study of these ancient space rocks.