Asteroidal source region of ordinary chondrites
The final, Earth-impacting orbits of ordinary chondritic meteorites have a very special distribution. By use of visual radiant and time of fall data, as well as photographic fireball orbits (1) it is inferred that chondrite perihelia are concentrated near 1 A.U., eccentricities are usually rather high (approximately 0.5), and inclinations are low (approximately 10 deg). Velocity selection resulting from atmospheric ablation plays a significant role in determining this orbital distribution, but by no means suffices to explain it. The observed distribution is a fragile one, and can easily be destroyed by Earth and Venus perturbations. This places severe constraints on the location of the original source bodies, of which these meteorites are fragments. New calculations were made of the expected distribution of final orbits from a range of initial sources, taking into consideration close encounter planetary perturbations, secular resonance, destruction by collision in space, and atmospheric ablation.
- Research Organization:
- Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5749217
- Report Number(s):
- N-85-15600; CONF-8407119-
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 47. annual Meteoritical Society meeting, Albuquerque, NM, USA, 30 Jul 1984; Other Information: In Lunar and Planetary Institute, the 47th. Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, 1p., (N--85-15599 06-91)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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