The Tagish Lake Meteorite: A Possible Sample from a D-Type Asteroid

A new type of carbonaceous chondrite, the Tagish Lake meteorite, exhibits a reflectance spectrum similar to spectra observed from the D-type asteroids, which are relatively abundant in the outer solar system beyond the main asteroid belt and have been inferred to be more primitive than any known met...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Hiroi, Takahiro, Zolensky, Michael E., Pieters, Carle M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2001
Subjects:
Tagish
Tagish Lake
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1063734
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1063734
Description
Summary:A new type of carbonaceous chondrite, the Tagish Lake meteorite, exhibits a reflectance spectrum similar to spectra observed from the D-type asteroids, which are relatively abundant in the outer solar system beyond the main asteroid belt and have been inferred to be more primitive than any known meteorite. Until the Tagish Lake fall, these asteroids had no analog in the meteorite collections. The Tagish Lake meteorite is a carbon-rich (4 to 5 weight %), aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrite and contains high concentrations of presolar grains and carbonate minerals, which is consistent with the expectation that the D-type asteroids were originally made of primitive materials and did not experience any extensive heating.

Similar Items