[meteorite-list] The Compositional Structure of the Asteroid Belt

[Shawn Alan]

Hello Listers

In celebrating asteroid day I have an article that covers the topic on
the asteroid belt.
down below is the abstract and a link to the pdf file.

Shawn Alan
IMCA 1633 
ebay store http://www.ebay.com/sch/imca1633ny/m.html
Website http://meteoritefalls.com 


Abstract 

The Compositional Structure of the Asteroid Belt

 Francesca E. DeMeo, Conel M. O'D. Alexander, Kevin J. Walsh, Clark R.
Chapman, Richard P. Binzel

(Submitted on 16 Jun 2015)

The past decade has brought major improvements in large-scale asteroid
discovery and characterization with over half a million known asteroids
and over 100,000 with some measurement of physical characterization.
This explosion of data has allowed us to create a new global picture of
the Main Asteroid Belt. Put in context with meteorite measurements and
dynamical models, a new and more complete picture of Solar System
evolution has emerged. The question has changed from "What was the
original compositional gradient of the Asteroid Belt?" to "What was the
original compositional gradient of small bodies across the entire Solar
System?" No longer is the leading theory that two belts of planetesimals
are primordial, but instead those belts were formed and sculpted through
evolutionary processes after Solar System formation. This article
reviews the advancements on the fronts of asteroid compositional
characterization, meteorite measurements, and dynamical theories in the
context of the heliocentric distribution of asteroid compositions seen
in the Main Belt today. This chapter also reviews the major outstanding
questions relating to asteroid compositions and distributions and
summarizes the progress and current state of understanding of these
questions to form the big picture of the formation and evolution of
asteroids in the Main Belt. Finally, we briefly review the relevance of
asteroids and their compositions in their greater context within our
Solar System and beyond. 
 

Comments:  Accepted chapter in Asteroids IV in the Space Science Series
to be published Fall 2015 
Subjects:  Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) 
Cite as:  arXiv:1506.04805 [astro-ph.EP] 
(or arXiv:1506.04805v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version) 

Link: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1506/1506.04805.pdf