What part of a space rock survives to the ground? PRESS RELEASE DATE August 8, 2022 CONTACT Rebecca McDonald Director of Communications SETI Institute rmcdonald@SETI.org Figure 1: Meteorites from the backside of asteroid 2008 TC3 as Jenniskens found them on...
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What part of a space rock survives to the ground? PRESS RELEASE DATE August 8, 2022 CONTACT Rebecca McDonald Director of Communications SETI Institute rmcdonald@SETI.org Figure 1: Meteorites from the backside of asteroid 2008 TC3 as Jenniskens found them on the ground in the Nubian Desert of Sudan. Photo: P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center. August 8, 2022, Mountain View, CA - When a small asteroid enters Earth’s atmosphere from space, its surface is brutally heated, causing melting and fragmenting. Therefore, it was somewhat of a mystery why the rocks near the surface survive to the ground as meteorites. That mystery is solved in a new study of the fiery entry of asteroid 2008 TC3, published online today in Meteoritics and Planetary Science. “Most of our meteorites fall from rocks the size of grapefruits to small cars,” says lead author and meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. “Rocks that big do not spin fast enoug
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