An overview of the petrography and petrology of particles from aggregate sample from asteroid Bennu
Connolly, Harold C Lauretta, Dante S McCoy, Timothy J Russell, Sara S Haenecour, Pierre Polit, Anjani Barnes, Jessica J Zega, Thomas J Yurimoto, Hisayoshi Kawasaki, Noriyuki
Connolly, Harold C
Lauretta, Dante S
McCoy, Timothy J
Russell, Sara S
Haenecour, Pierre
Polit, Anjani
Barnes, Jessica J
Zega, Thomas J
Yurimoto, Hisayoshi
Kawasaki, Noriyuki
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2025-05-09
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2024-09-12
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Abstract: The OSIRIS‐REx mission returned a sample of regolith from the carbonaceous asteroid Bennu in September 2023. We present preliminary in situ investigations of the petrology and petrography of selected particles ranging in size from 0.5 to 3 mm. Using a combination of optical and electron beam techniques, we investigate whole specimens and polished sections belonging to morphologically and visually distinct categories of particles. We find that morphological differences in the particles are reflective of petrographic and petrologic differences, leading to the conclusion that we have at least two distinct major lithologies in the bulk sample. Our findings support predictions from remote sensing, suggesting that the morphological differences observed in the boulder population of Bennu correspond to petrologic differences. Our data provide insight into the geologic activity on Bennu's parent body and the petrographic framework needed to contextualize the detailed analyses of this pristine asteroidal material.
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Connolly, H.C., Jr, Lauretta, D.S., McCoy, T.J., Russell, S.S., Haenecour, P., Polit, A., Barnes, J.J., Zega, T.J., Yurimoto, H., Kawasaki, N., Righter, K., Libourel, G., Portail, M., Guigoz, V., King, A.J., Keller, L.P., Thomas-Keprta, K., Le, L., Tu, V., Eckley, S.A., Corrigan, C.M., Gooding, T., Rose, T., Wardell, R., Ray, S., Hamilton, V.E., Lunning, N.G., Snead, C.J., McCubbin, F.M., Thompson, M.S., Jones, R.H., Domanik, K., Hill, D., Smith, L., Ong, I.J., Salge, T., Almeida, N., Harrison, C., Bates, H., Schofield, P., Franchi, I.A., May, B.H., Manzoni, C., Ryan, A.J., Ballouz, R.-L., Macke, R.J., Dworkin, J.P., Lorentson, C.C., Tait, K., Jawin, E.R., Kaplan, H.H., DellaGuistina, D.N., Walsh, K.J., Moreau, M.C., Enos, H.L., Wolner, C.W.V., Roper, H.L. and Tachibana, S. (2025), An overview of the petrography and petrology of particles from aggregate sample from asteroid Bennu. Meteorit Planet Sci, 60: 979-996. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14335
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Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Meteoritics & Planetary Sciencepublished by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Meteoritical Society.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use anddistribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. The linked file is the published version of the article.
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1086-9379
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1945-5100
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openAccess