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Archive of Asteroid Articles

Articles listed by publication date.

DATE POSTED	HEADLINE ARTICLES	PDF VERSIONS
30 APRIL 2013	Meteoritic Minerals Tell a Story of Multistage Cooling, Break-up, and Reassembly of an Asteroid by G. Jeffrey Taylor Compositional variations in minerals in H-chondrites indicate at least two vastly different cooling rates at different temperatures, suggesting fragmentation, cooling of the fragments, and reassembly into a second-generation rubble pile.
SEPT 2012	Volatiles on Vesta by Linda M. V. Martel CosmoSparks Report - Implications for the hydrogen detected on Vesta with data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.
APRIL 2012	Earth's Temporary Minimoons by Linda M. V. Martel CosmoSparks Report - Asteroids temporarily orbiting Earth follow a wild route before they exit. Could they someday be mined?
31 AUG 2011	Samples from Asteroid Itokawa by G. Jeffrey Taylor and Linda M. V. Martel Samples returned from asteroid Itokawa by the Hayabusa mission provide ground truth for astronomical observations and reveal that the little asteroid is eroding at a rate of tens of centimeters per million years.
JULY 2011	Vesta and the Vestoids by Linda M. V. Martel CosmoSparks Report - Insights to Vesta's crust, before the Dawn mission's close look at the asteroid.
7 APRIL 2011	Wet, Carbonaceous Asteroids: Altering Minerals, Changing Amino Acids by G. Jeffrey Taylor Aqueous alteration in asteroids containing organic compounds leads to formation of hydrous minerals and changes in the mix of amino acids.
FEB 2011	Asteroid Itokawa Samples by Linda M. V. Martel CosmoSparks Report - Hayabusa Mission results show definitive evidence for LL chondrite compositions of minerals in Itokawa Samples.
DEC 2010	Asteroid Tracked -- Meteorites Found! by Linda M. V. Martel CosmoSparks Report - The unfolding story of meteorite Almahata Sitta.
JULY 2010	Messing with an Onion by G. Jeffrey Taylor CosmoSparks Report - Cooling of the H-chondrite parent body.
30 APRIL 2010	Asteroid, Meteor, Meteorite by Linda M. V. Martel Detected in space less than a day before hitting Earth, the Almahata Sitta meteorite from asteroid 2008 TC₃ gives clues to the complex evolution of small asteroids.
10 AUG 09	Space Weathering Agent: Solar Wind by Linda M. V. Martel Bombardment of helium ions on olivine in the laboratory simulates space weathering of asteroids and other airless bodies.
25 JUNE 09	The Complicated Geologic History of Asteroid 4 Vesta by G. Jeffrey Taylor Meteorites from asteroid 4 Vesta show that it contains patches of granite-like rock.
19 FEB 09	More Evidence for Multiple Meteorite Magmas by G. Jeffrey Taylor Cosmochemists show that a pair of meteorites formed in an asteroid that erupted a newly-recognized type of asteroidal magma.
8 JULY 08	Heating, Cooling, and Cratering: One Asteroid's Complicated Story by G. Jeffrey Taylor Cooling rate data indicate that the H-chondrite parent asteroid was deeply cratered as it cooled slowly.
27 NOV 07	Getting to Know Vesta by Linda M. V. Martel Scientists are primed with geochemical data from HED meteorites for Dawn's encounter with asteroid 4 Vesta.
17 SEPT 07	Melted Crumbs from Asteroid Vesta by Linda M. V. Martel Researchers studying some of the rarest of the smallest meteorites call them melted crumbs from asteroid Vesta.
18 APRIL 07	When Worlds Really Did Collide by Edward Scott, Jijin Yang, and Joseph Goldstein Cosmochemical studies and dynamical models of protoplanetary collisions suggest a new origin for iron meteorites.
27 NOV 06	Hit-and-Run as Planets Formed by G. Jeffrey Taylor Collisions between large protoplanets as the planets formed may have ripped some of them to shreds, producing molten asteroid-sized bodies, driving off water and other volatiles, and scrambling partially molten protoplanets.
21 JULY 06	Iron Meteorites as the Not-So-Distant Cousins of Earth by William F. Bottke and Linda M. V. Martel Numerical simulations suggest that some iron meteorites are fragments of the long lost precursor material that formed the Earth and other terrestrial planets.
2 APRIL 04	Asteroid Heating: A Shocking View by G. Jeffrey Taylor Mineral intergrowths in chondritic meteorites may indicate that some asteroids were heated by impact.
9 MAR 04	Tiny Traces of a Big Asteroid Breakup by Linda M. V. Martel Fossil meteorites and chromite grains record a hundred-fold increase in the number of meteorites that fell 480 million years ago compared to the meteorite influx today.
28 APRIL 03	Asteroidal Lava Flows by G. Jeffrey Taylor Meteorite studies indicate that we have pieces of lava flows from at least five asteroids.
23 JAN 03	QUE 93148: A Part of the Mantle of Asteroid 4 Vesta? by Christine Floss A tiny meteorite tells a story of melting in the deep mantle of a big asteroid.
28 JUNE 02	Using Chondrites to Understand the Inside of Asteroid 433 Eros by Linda M. V. Martel Data from ordinary chondrite meteorites and from the NEAR mission suggest that asteroid 433 Eros is heavily fractured.
26 FEB 02	The Composition of Asteroid 433 Eros by G. Jeffrey Taylor X-rays and reflected light suggest that asteroid 433 Eros is similar in composition to the most common type of meteorite--maybe.
3 DEC 01	Oxygen Isotopes Give Clues to the Formation of Planets, Moons, and Asteroids by Edward R. D. Scott As they formed from gas and dust near the Sun, grains in some meteorites acquired oxygen that originated in numerous other stars that shone long before our solar system was born.
21 NOV 00	Mining the Moon, Mars, and Asteroids by G. Jeffrey Taylor Applied cosmochemistry plays a key role in plans to use the resources of the Moon, Mars, and asteroids.
17 DEC 99	Difficult Experiments on Weird Rocks by G. Jeffrey Taylor Melting experiments on oxygen-depleted meteorites give clues about magma compositions and core formation in asteroids.
24 AUG 99	Honeycombed Asteroids by G. Jeffrey Taylor Asteroids have lower densities than expected, probably because they have been disrupted and then reassembled into porous rubble piles.
8 FEB 99	From a Cloud of Gas and Dust to an Asteroid with Percolating Hot Water by G. Jeffrey Taylor Isotopes of manganese and chromium indicate that chemical reactions involving hot water altered minerals on water-bearing asteroids during the same time interval that other asteroids were melted, between 7 and 16 million years after the first solids formed in the Solar System.
12 NOV 98	Dry Droplets of Fiery Rain by G. Jeffrey Taylor Experiments test an idea for the origin of droplets of rocky material melted before the planets formed.

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