They discover the origin of most meteorites

Scientists have managed to determine the origin of most of all the meteorites that have fallen on Earth and been identified as such.

The achievement is the work of an international team led by three researchers from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Charles University of Prague in the Czech Republic.

Although more than 70,000 meteorites are known, for a long time only the origin of 6 percent of them has been clearly identified by their composition. These meteorites with known origin come from the Moon, Mars or Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in the main asteroid belt. The provenance of the remaining 94 percent of meteorites has been a mystery.

The team that has managed to identify the origin of most of the meteorites, led by Miroslav Broz of Charles University, has shown that 70% of all fallen meteorites recognized as such come from just three families of young asteroids: Karin, Koronis and Massalia. These families were produced by three recent collisions that occurred in the main asteroid belt 5.8 million years ago, 7.5 million years ago, and about 40 million years ago.

Specifically, the Massalia family has been identified as the source of 37% of known meteorites.

The research team has also determined the sources of other types of meteorites.

El Médano 128 meteorite, found in the Atacama Desert in 2011 by a team from the Center for Research and Teaching of Environmental Geosciences (CEREGE) in France. (Photo: © Jérôme Gattacceca / CNRS / CEREGE)

With this research, the origin of more than 90% of the recognized meteorites has now been identified. This discovery has been reflected in three studies published in academic journals; the first on September 13, 2024 in Astronomy and Astrophysics, with the title “The origin of most meteorites finally revealed” and the other two on October 16, 2024 in Nature. (Fountain: NCYT by Amazings)