Meteoritic Parent Bodies: Their Number and Identification

Extensive collection efforts in Antarctica and the Sahara in the past 10 years have greatly increased the number of known meteorites. Groupings of meteorites according to petrologic, mineralogical, bulkchemical, and isotopic properties suggest the existence of 100–150 distinct parent bodies. Dynamical studies imply that most meteorites have their source bodies in the main belt and not among the near-Earth asteroids. Spectral observations of asteroids are currently the primary way of determining asteroid mineralogies. Linkages between ordinary chondrites and S asteroids, CM chondrites and C-type asteroids, the HEDs and 4 Vesta, and iron meteorites, enstatite chondrites, and M asteroids are discussed. However, it is difficult to conclusively link most asteroids with particular meteorite groups due to the number of asteroids with similar spectral properties and the uncertainties in the optical, chemical, and physical properties of the asteroid regolith.