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Register a new userOrigin and dynamical evolution of the asteroid belt
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The asteroid belt was dynamically shaped during and after planet formation. Despite representing a broad ring of stable orbits, the belt contains less than one one-thousandth of an Earth mass. The asteroid orbits are dynamically excited with a wide range in eccentricity and inclination and their compositions are diverse, with a general trend toward dry objects in the inner belt and more water-rich objects in the outer belt. Here we review models of the asteroid belts origins and dynamical history. The classical view is that the belt was born with several Earth masses in planetesimals, then strongly depleted. However, it is possible that very few planetesimals ever formed in the asteroid region and that the belts story is one of implantation rather than depletion. A number of processes may have implanted asteroids from different regions of the Solar System, dynamically removed them, and excited their orbits. During the gaseous disk phase these include the effects of giant planet growth and migration and sweeping secular resonances. After the gaseous disk phase these include scattering from resident planetary embryos, chaos in the giant planets orbits, the giant planet instability, and long-term dynamical evolution. Different global models for Solar System formation imply contrasting dynamical histories of the asteroid belt. Vesta and Ceres may have been implanted from opposite regions of the Solar System -- Ceres from the Jupiter-Saturn region and Vesta from the terrestrial planet region -- and could therefore represent very different formation conditions.
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A determination of the dynamical evolution of the asteroid belt is difficult because the asteroid belt has evolved since the time of asteroid formation through mechanisms that include: (1) catastrophic collisions, (2) rotational disruption, (3) chaotic orbital evolution and (4) orbital evolution driven by Yarkovsky radiation forces. The timescales of these loss mechanisms are uncertain and there is a need for more observational constraints. In the inner main belt, the mean size of the non-family asteroids increases with increasing inclination. Here, we use that observation to show that all inner main belt asteroids originate from either the known families or from ghost families, that is, old families with dispersed orbital elements. We estimate that the average age of the asteroids in the ghost families is a factor of 1/3 less than the Yarkovsky orbital evolution timescale. However, this orbital evolution timescale is a long-term average that must allow for the collisional evolution of the asteroids and for stochastic changes in their spin directions. By applying these constraints on the orbital evolution timescales to the evolution of the size-frequency distribution of the Vesta asteroid family, we estimate that the age of this family is greater than 1.3 $Gyr$ and could be comparable with the age of the solar system. By estimating the number of ghost families, we calculate that the number of asteroids that are the root sources of the meteorites and the near-Earth asteroids that originate from the inner main belt is about 20.
The asteroid belt contains less than a thousandth of Earths mass and is radially segregated, with S-types dominating the inner belt and C-types the outer belt. It is generally assumed that the belt formed with far more mass and was later strongly depleted. Here we show that the present-day asteroid belt is consistent with having formed empty, without any planetesimals between Mars and Jupiters present-day orbits. This is consistent with models in which drifting dust is concentrated into an isolated annulus of terrestrial planetesimals. Gravitational scattering during terrestrial planet formation causes radial spreading, transporting planetesimals from inside 1-1.5 AU out to the belt. Several times the total current mass in S-types is implanted, with a preference for the inner main belt. C-types are implanted from the outside, as the giant planets gas accretion destabilizes nearby planetesimals and injects a fraction into the asteroid belt, preferentially in the outer main belt. These implantation mechanisms are simple byproducts of terrestrial- and giant planet formation. The asteroid belt may thus represent a repository for planetary leftovers that accreted across the Solar System but not in the belt itself.
Polluted white dwarfs are generally accreting terrestrial-like material that may originate from a debris belt like the asteroid belt in the solar system. The fraction of white dwarfs that are polluted drops off significantly for white dwarfs with masses $M_{rm WD}gtrsim 0.8,rm M_odot$. This implies that asteroid belts and planetary systems around main-sequence stars with mass $M_{rm MS}gtrsim 3,rm M_odot$ may not form because of the intense radiation from the star. This is in agreement with current debris disc and exoplanet observations. The fraction of white dwarfs that show pollution also drops off significantly for low mass white dwarfs $(M_{rm WD}lesssim 0.55,rm M_odot)$. However, the low-mass white dwarfs that do show pollution are not currently accreting but have accreted in the past. We suggest that asteroid belts around main sequence stars with masses $M_{rm MS}lesssim 2,rm M_odot$ are not likely to survive the stellar evolution process. The destruction likely occurs during the AGB phase and could be the result of interactions of the asteroids with the stellar wind, the high radiation or, for the lowest mass stars that have an unusually close-in asteroid belt, scattering during the tidal orbital decay of the inner planetary system.
We review the state of knowledge on the origin of Earths water. Empirical constraints come from chemical and isotopic measurements of solar system bodies and of Earth itself. Dynamical models have revealed pathways for water delivery to Earth during its formation; most are anchored to specific models for terrestrial planet formation. Meanwhile, disk chemical models focus on determining how the isotopic ratios of the building blocks of planets varied as a function of radial distance and time, defining markers of material transported along those pathways. Carbonaceous chondrite meteorites -- representative of the outer asteroid belt -- match Earths water isotopes (although mantle plumes have been measured at lower D/H). But how was this connection established -- did Earths water originate among the asteroids (as in the classical model of terrestrial planet formation)? Or, more likely, was Earths water delivered from the same parent population as the hydrated asteroids (e.g., external pollution, as in the Grand Tack model)? We argue that the outer asteroid belt -- the boundary between the inner and outer solar system -- is the next frontier for new discoveries. The outer asteroid belt contains a population of icy bodies with volatile-driven activity seen on twelve main belt comets (MBCs); seven of which exhibit sublimation-driven activity on repeated perihelion passages. Measurements of the isotopic characteristics of MBCs would provide essential missing links in the chain between disk models and dynamical models. Finally, we extrapolate to rocky exoplanets. Migration is the only mechanism likely to produce very water-rich planets with more than a few percent water by mass (and even with migration, some planets are pure rock). While water loss mechanisms remain to be studied in more detail, we expect that water should be delivered to the vast majority of rocky exoplanets.
The June 2, 2018, impact of asteroid 2018 LA over Botswana is only the second asteroid detected in space prior to impacting over land. Here, we report on the successful recovery of meteorites. Additional astrometric data refine the approach orbit and define the spin period and shape of the asteroid. Video observations of the fireball constrain the asteroids position in its orbit and were used to triangulate the location of the fireballs main flare over the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. 23 meteorites were recovered. A consortium study of eight of these classifies Motopi Pan as a HED polymict breccia derived from howardite, cumulate and basaltic eucrite, and diogenite lithologies. Before impact, 2018 LA was a solid rock of about 156 cm diameter with high bulk density about 2.85 g/cm3, a relatively low albedo pV about 0.25, no significant opposition effect on the asteroid brightness, and an impact kinetic energy of about 0.2 kt. The orbit of 2018 LA is consistent with an origin at Vesta (or its Vestoids) and delivery into an Earth-impacting orbit via the nu_6 resonance. The impact that ejected 2018 LA in an orbit towards Earth occurred 22.8 +/- 3.8 Ma ago. Zircons record a concordant U-Pb age of 4563 +/- 11 Ma and a consistent 207Pb/206Pb age of 4563 +/- 6 Ma. A much younger Pb-Pb phosphate resetting age of 4234 +/- 41 Ma was found. From this impact chronology, we discuss what is the possible source crater of Motopi Pan and the age of Vestas Veneneia impact basin.
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