Most meteorites come from a few ancient planets



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According to one study, at least 85% of the 200,000 asteroids in the inner asteroid belt, the main source of these bodies falling on Earth, come from this handful of planets. Most asteroids and meteorites are splinters of five or six smaller planets that formed during the childhood of the solar system, says a study published today by Nature Astronomy.

At least 85% of the 200,000 asteroids that are in the inner asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter and the main source of these bodies falling on Earth, come from this handful of planets.

For the remaining 15%, you can also trace their origins to the same group. According to the principal author of the study and astronomer of the University of Florida (USA) Stanely Dermott

the professor indicated, in a statement, that this discovery is important to understand the materials that have shaped Earth, which is a rocky planet.

This discovery provides a better understanding of the evolutionary history of asteroids and the materials that compose them, information that "could be It is essential to protect the Earth and ourselves from meteorites the size of the Statue of Liberty and asteroids more powerful than atomic bombs, "he said

. How many are there and what types of materials are there? "because" if ever you go to Earth and want to turn it away, we must know what is its nature. "

The Dermott team has shown that the size of an asteroid depends on its size, suggesting that the meteorite differences found on Earth are due to the evolutionary changes that have occurred in some large Precursor bodies that existed more than 4 billion years ago

] Dermott badured that it would not surprise him if it was finally concluded that this small group of bodies is at the same time. origin of all the asteroids of the main belt and not only of those who are in the inner belt

Knowing the evolutionary history of the bodies that formed the first solar system helps theoretical astronomers to answer related questions instead in the Universe where planets similar to ours might exist.

expert, we must understand the processes that gave birth to the planet we live on.

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