An Internationally-renowned team of researchers from CNRS, the European Southern Observatory and Charles University, Prague, has made an incredible discovery! 70% of the meteorites listed come from just three young asteroid families: Karin, Koronis and Massalia!
These families originate from collisions in the main asteroid belt that occurred 5.8, 7.5 and around 40 million years ago. More specifically, the Massalia family accounts for 37% of known meteorites.
With over 70,000 meteorites recorded, the origin of 90% of them has now been identified, thanks to recent studies published in Astronomy and Astrophysics and Nature.
This work paves the way for future research, particularly on kilometer-sized asteroids, which are of particular interest to many space missions.
Congratulations to the whole team for this valuable contribution to science and our understanding of the universe!
