TUNA Lunch Talk:

Mike Solontoi

Lynchburg College

Looking for lava in all the wrong places

December 11

12:10PM, Room 230, NRAO, Edgemont Road

Abstract:

While most of the V-type (basaltic) asteroids in the inner belt are likely fragments of the large asteroid Vesta (colloquially “Vestoids”) and the source of the HED meteorites, it is almost certain that other large protoplanetary cores existed in the region at early times, as evidenced by the diversity of iron meteorites in the meteoritic record and the isotopic inhomogeneity within the HED collection. By searching for, identifying, and studying dynamically improbable V-type asteroids, those with orbits inconsistent with Vestoids, we gain insight into the total inventory of the early solar system. I will present data from the ongoing AVAST survey detailing the search and identification of V-type asteroids outside of the Vestoid dynamical range – beyond the 3:1 resonance with Jupiter and at low inclinations.