Report an accessibility problem
Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Asteroid Alteration!

New article helps pinpoint alteration by water or heat on asteroids!

Sulfide mineral in thin sectionWorking with colleagues from the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Smithsonian Institution, CMS Assistant Director Dr. Devin Schrader has been analyzing the sulfide (S2- bearing) minerals in a wide range of meteorites to determine what conditions might have been present on each meteorite’s parent asteroid.

Sulfide in thin section. Photo ⓒ Elsevier/Schrader et al, 2016.

Not only does this research provide further insight on small extraterrestrial samples returned by the spacecraft missions Stardust and Hayabusa, it will also be applied to the payloads of upcoming asteroid sample return missions OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2!

Read the full details of the study, published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, here!