[meteorite-list] Vesta-Howardite confirmation and other new parent body research findings

[MexicoDoug]

Dear List,

Here are 3 more articles from the Dec. 2011 issue of Icarus.

(1) Confirms a good Howardite match for Vesta by DAWN;
(2) DAWN related looks at how CM2 material on Vesta modifies the 
Framing Camera spectra;
(3) Looks at Asteroid (101955) 1999 RQ36 and suggests an association 
with CM1's

Kijndest wishes
Doug


Ultraviolet spectroscopy of Asteroid (4) Vesta
Pages 640-649

Highlights
► Multi-instrument measurements of Vesta’s geometric albedo in the UV 
and visible.
► No UV spectral bluing or lightcurve reversal on Vesta.
► Longitudinal variation of Vesta UV spectral slope matches that in 
visible.
► Fine-grained howardite matches Vesta’s spectrum from 220 nm to 950 
nm.
► No evidence of space weathering in the UV–visible spectroscopy and 
lightcurve.

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How to characterize terrains on 4 Vesta using Dawn Framing Camera color 
bands?
Pages 376-386

Highlights
► We present methods to classify terrains on Vesta using Dawn Framing 
Camera images.
► Effects of exogenous material (CM2) on FC color spectra are also 
presented.
► Pseudo Band I minimum can be used to derive ferrosilite content of 
the surface.

================================================================

Asteroid (101955) 1999 RQ36: Spectroscopy from 0.4 to 2.4 μm and 
meteorite analogs
Pages 462-475

"We speculate that RQ36 is composed of a “CM1”-like material."

► We present reflectance spectra from 0.4 to 2.4 microns of asteroid 
(101955) 1999 RQ36.
► RQ36 is the target of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission.
► We performed parametric tests and a least-squares search through 
RELAB meteorite data.
► Results show that CI and/or CM meteorites are the most likely 
meteorite analogs for RQ36.
► We also compare RQ36 with other known B-type asteroids measured by 
Clark et al. (2010).