The impact and recovery of asteroid 2008 TC(3).
In the absence of a firm link between individual meteorites and their asteroidal parent bodies, asteroids are typically characterized only by their light reflection properties, and grouped accordingly into classes. On 6 October 2008, a small asteroid was discovered with a flat reflectance spectrum in the 554-995 nm wavelength range, and designated 2008 TC(3) (refs 4-6). It subsequently hit the Earth. Because it exploded at 37 km altitude, no macroscopic fragments were expected to survive. Here we report that a dedicated search along the approach trajectory recovered 47 meteorites, fragments of a single body named Almahata Sitta, with a total mass of 3.95 kg. Analysis of one of these meteorites shows it to be an achondrite, a polymict ureilite, anomalous in its class: ultra-fine-grained and porous, with large carbonaceous grains. The combined asteroid and meteorite reflectance spectra identify the asteroid as F class, now firmly linked to dark carbon-rich anomalous ureilites, a material so fragile it was not previously represented in meteorite collections.
Jenniskens
P
P
SETI Institute, Carl Sagan Center, 515 North Whisman Road, Mountain View, California 94043, USA. Petrus.M.Jenniskens@nasa.gov
Shaddad
M H
MH
Numan
D
D
Elsir
S
S
Kudoda
A M
AM
Zolensky
M E
ME
Le
L
L
Robinson
G A
GA
Friedrich
J M
JM
Rumble
D
D
Steele
A
A
Chesley
S R
SR
Fitzsimmons
A
A
Duddy
S
S
Hsieh
H H
HH
Ramsay
G
G
Brown
P G
PG
Edwards
W N
WN
Tagliaferri
E
E
Boslough
M B
MB
Spalding
R E
RE
Dantowitz
R
R
Kozubal
M
M
Pravec
P
P
Borovicka
J
J
Charvat
Z
Z
Vaubaillon
J
J
Kuiper
J
J
Albers
J
J
Bishop
J L
JL
Mancinelli
R L
RL
Sandford
S A
SA
Milam
S N
SN
Nuevo
M
M
Worden
S P
SP