meteor meteoroid meteorite asteroid comet

#Meteor meteoroid meteorite asteroid comet free

On the other hand, we are contributing to the study of meteorite falls in South America with the recent characterization of Cali (2009) and Berduc (2010) chondrite falls occurred in Colombia and Argentina respectively. We are also contributing to the identification of unnoticed meteorite falls like e.g. We have also recovered and characterized the last two Spanish meteorite falls: Villalbeto de la Peña ordinary chondrite in 2004 and Puerto Lápice (2007). In the field of meteorite characterization our center has being recognized as international repository of NASA Antarctic meteorites. The study of meteoroid interaction with the atmosphere of the Earth producing meteors or fireballs (we lead the SPMN network) to decipher the dynamic origin of hazardous rocks.The remote sensing study of asteroids and comets to better understand their nature.The study of aqueous alteration in meteorites to infer the pathways in which water arrived to rocky planets and how meteorite minerals catalyzed complex organics from in an astrobiological context.The recovery and characterization of new meteorites to study their physico-chemical properties and assess their parent bodies.The research activity of our group is focused in four different aspects, namely: Our ICE group, with experience in laboratory analysis, and characterization of meteorites and of other sample-returned materials is contributing to obtain new answers on the role of minor bodies in the terrestrial enrichment in volatiles and organics previous to the appearance of life in Earth. These bodies can be considered fossils to understand solar system evolution because they are sampling the protoplanetary disk forming materials, exhibiting essential chemical and isotopic fingerprints essential to understand the astrophysical environment in which our planetary system formed. The study of these primitive materials, authentic building blocks of planets, is of relevance to date and establish the different steps in planetary evolution.Ĭhondritic asteroids, particularly those of carbonaceous nature, are considered the most representative samples of the starting composition of the Sun and the gaseous nebula from which planets formed.

#Meteor meteoroid meteorite asteroid comet free

The remote follow up of asteroids and comets in different band-pass filters using telescopes allows identifying the surface composition of these fascinating objects, but the meteorites arrived to Earth are free samples delivered from many of them.