Earth-bound asteroids come from stony asteroids, new studies confirm
Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 15:31
in Astronomy & Space
Researchers got their first up-close look at dust from the surface of a small, stony asteroid after the Hayabusa spacecraft scooped some up and brought it back to Earth. Analysis of these dust particles confirms a long-standing suspicion: that the most common meteorites found here on Earth, known as ordinary chondrites, are born from these stony, or S-type, asteroids.