Planetary Science Research Discoveries

Planetary scientists sharing ideas and discoveries.

Planetary Science Research Discoveries (PSRD) is an educational site sharing the latest research on meteorites, planets, and other solar system bodies being made by NASA-sponsored scientists. The web site is supported by the Cosmochemistry Program of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and by Hawai`i Space Grant Consortium and is a vital link for planetary and space sciences, and for learning how science works.

 
Supported by NASA's Cosmochemistry Program   and   Hawai`i Space Grant Consortium.

Archive of Asteroid Articles


DATE POSTED ARTICLES
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.
pdf version   PSRD-HEDs-Vesta.pdf
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.
pdf version   PSRD-cosmicSpherules.pdf
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.
pdf version   PSRD-irons.pdf
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.
pdf version   PSRD-hit-and-run.pdf
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.
pdf version   PSRD-asteroidGatecrashers.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-asteroidHeating.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-fossilMeteorites.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-asteroidalLava.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-QUE93148.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-ErosPorosity.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-eros.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-Oisotopes.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-mining.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-indarch.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-asteroidDensity.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-fayalite.pdf
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.
pdf version PSRD-chondrules.pdf

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