[meteorite-list] a serious meteorite question!

From: vishnu reddy <moonyguy_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:17:45 2004
Message-ID: <20031212054933.9794.qmail_at_web41311.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi James, everyone

You wrote: Some people think that there was a large planet between Jupiter and
> Saturn and it was destroyed by a cataclysmic catastrophe of biblical
> proportions which resulted in the asteroid belt where most of our meteorites
> are believed to come from. Does this sound right so far?

Not quite right. Oxygen isotopes show that the meteorites we have in our collection dont come from
a single parent body so the above assumption might not be correct.

> Iron meteorites are believed to be from the core of a planet such as the
> one that was destroyed by the cataclysmic catastrophe.
> Is it thought that some of our iron meteorites come from the asteroid
> belt? If so, it would seem like different iron falls would match beings
> they came from the same iron core?

All iron meteorites we have come from differentiated parent bodies which have been collisionally
destroyed to expose their core. From the studies we have done so far there are at least 65+ parent
bodies of iron meteorites. Meaning there must be at least 65+ differentiated parent bodies which
were destroyed. While there are irons that belong to the same class...I am not sure of any cases
where iron meteorites from 2 falls coming from same parent body. May be others on the list might
know better.

> Has any two irons from separate falls been matched? It would seem like
> more than one iron meteoroid would have came from the asteroid belt and end
> up an iron meteorite. Am I missing something?

I am not sure of this. May be others can add about this. But yes more than one iron has come from
the asteroid belt.

clear skies
Vishnu

=====
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vishnu Vardhan Reddy
Department of Space Studies
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks
ND 58203, USA.
Phone-701-777-9641
www.space.edu

Spaceguard India
www.spaceguardindia.com

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Received on Fri 12 Dec 2003 12:49:33 AM PST