The April Meteoritics & Planetary Science (vol. 60, #4) is finally here:
Larsen, K. Krot, A. N. Wielandt, D. et al. Type B–type C CAI in a CR chondrite: Evidence for multiple melting events, gas–melt interaction, and oxygen-isotope exchange Page 717 .14325
Svetsov, V. Shuvalov, V. Glazachev, D. et al. A web calculator based on hydrodynamic modeling of impacts of cosmic objects from 20 m to 3 km in diameter Page 778 .14329
Walton, C. R. Anand, M. Schönbächler, M. Microfaults: Abundant shear deformation and frictional melting in chondrites Page 858 .14333
Noguchi, T. Miyake, A. Yabuta, H. et al. Mineralogy of terminal grains recovered from the Tanpopo capture panel onboard the International Space Station Page 916 .14327
Jenniskens, P. Devillepoix, H. A. R. Review of asteroid, meteor, and meteorite-type links Page 928 .14321
Where do I begin… Asteroids are not static bodies, frozen in time. There is a constant rain of solar wind, cosmic rays, and micrometeorite bombardment at the uppermost few microns- “space weathering.” Every so often (geologically speaking), a not-so-micro meteorite hits somewhere on an asteroid. We know this, because we recover meteorites with “petrofabric”- a ‘grain’ like wood, or muscle, resulting from directional compression on that meteorite’s parent asteroid. Larsen et al. and Walton et al. study such dynamics, even down to the chondrule level (the original, millimeter-scale “asteroids”).
And speaking of dynamics and compression: Svetsov et al. revisit the impactor question. What effects follow, from what asteroid impacting us? Every year brings yet faster computers, and yet greater details to hydrodynamic code. This question, then, can have arbitrary decimal places on the answers.
And now some not-so-disastrous impactors: the Tanpopo experiment placed capture arrays on the International Space Station, in the manner of the Stardust mission to Comet Wild 2. These capture cells gradually collected micrometeorites, without the contaminating effect of Earth’s atmosphere, ground impact, biological exposure, etc. Now, we study the output: a few hundred untainted particles.
If there’s a person to be called “Mr. Meteorite,” it would be Peter Jenniskens (unless he prefers “Dr.”). Therefore, who else to turn to for a review article: attempting to connect (as best we can in 2025) meteors with their resulting meteorites, and parent asteroids. The wide deployment of cameras everywhere gives us lots of data to parse, instead of just a lucky closed-circuit security cam before.