C-type asteroids

The most common class of asteroid in the outer main belt, having surfaces that are similar in composition to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Ultraviolet absorption features vary in relative strength according to the amount of water of hydration in the surface material. There are three subclasses: B-type asteroids have a higher albedo than the average C; F-types have weak to nonexistent UV absorption features; G-types have a strong UV absorption feature.

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The study - published in the journal Nature Astronomy - found that small fragments of material from C-type asteroids are too fragile to survive entry into the Earth's atmosphere, explaining why meteorites of this type are rarely discovered here.

Moon walkers smash target

Until now, only a few chondritic meteorites found on Earth have been identified as fragments of C-type asteroids, which are very common in the Solar System ('C' is the chemical symbol for the element carbon).

Germany : MASCOT confirms what scientists have long suspected

Named for the son of its discoverer, Jean-Jacques is an M-type asteroid, so called because it and other members of its class have a high metallic content (C-type asteroids are carbonaceous, S-type silaceous).

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About 1 percent of these ice-infused boulders, known as C-type asteroids, were dropped into the outer regions of the asteroid belt.

Water, water everywhere: every bit of Earth's [H.sub.2]O was delivered by space rocks, but which Ones?

The mission of Hayabusa2 is to explore one of the C-type asteroids called 1999 JU3 in the universe, retrieve materials and bring them to Earth, said JAXA in a statement.

Japan launches 2nd asteroid sample return mission

C-type asteroids are especially useful in this respect as they show a fairly featureless spectrum of uniform reflectance vs.

The unusual case of 'asteroid' 2010 KQ: a newly-discovered artificial object orbiting the sun

Moreover, c-type asteroids could be resources for future space exploration.

Giant asteroid to narrowly miss Earth on Nov. 8

The majority belong to another, very important class: the carbonaceous C-type asteroids.

Space Rock Rendezvous: This summer, two spacecraft will bear down on their target asteroids, preparing to snatch rubble and bring it home to scientists

Astronaut sampling and potential commercial activities could indicate the value of C-type asteroids for commercial mining purposes, which in turn could have significant impacts on how deep space missions are designed in the future.

United States : NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission Completes Robotic Design Milestone

* Spectral measurements strengthened the possibility that so-called C-type asteroids may be related to a class of meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites, suggesting that samples of such meteorites may be the first asteroid pieces found on Earth (136: 334).

Science News of the year

C-type asteroids are the most common type of asteroid, dark gray, and often seen in the main asteroid belt's outer regions.

Hayabusa 2 is asteroid bound

Corrections were calculated using the (B-V) values shown in parentheses typical of C-type asteroids (0.7), S-type (0.9), and blue (0.2), red (1.0) and G-type stars (0.6).