California meteorite provides wealth of information

Science News : Almost 1 kg of fragments have been collected from a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite that fell in California in April 2012. Carbonaceous chondrites are carbon-rich and make up only 3% of known meteorites. The California find, known as the Sutter’s Mill meteorite, belongs to a subgroup particularly rich in organic molecules. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, found more than 70 different chemical elements in the meteorite and were able to date it to the formation of the solar system. However, the mix of compounds suggests that it was part of an asteroid formed by the aggregation of a large number of smaller asteroids. Based on the effect of cosmic rays on the material, researchers have deduced that the meteorite was broken off of the asteroid approximately 50 000 years ago. It also appears to have followed an unusual path before striking Earth. Peter Jenniskens, from the SETI Institute in California, says that the meteorite likely came from a family of asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. The wear markings on it suggest that the asteroids have experienced more collisions than expected. And the way it reflects light is similar to the asteroid that will be visited by Japan’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft in 2018.