The Gefion Asteroid Family: Parent Body Puzzles and Ordinary Chondrite PiecesOPEN ACCESS 

Allison McGraw, Vishnu Reddy, Juan A Sanchez

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Published: 24 January 2025

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“Asteroid families provide critical clues to the nature of their original parent bodies. Ordinary chondrites, the most common meteorites to reach Earth, consist of three subtypes: H, L, and LL chondrites, offering valuable insights into the solar system’s geochemical history. The Gefion Asteroid Family (GAF) has been proposed as a source for some L chondrites. In this study, we present the results of a spectroscopic campaign on dynamically defined members of the GAF, testing the hypothesis that L chondrites may originate from this family. Our new observations, combined with near-infrared (NIR) spectra from previous work, provide data for 18 asteroids. Compositional analysis reveals a range of meteorite analogs, including H (1 object, 6%), L (8 objects, 43%), and LL (1 object, 6%). Objects with L chondrite-like compositions were the most common in our sample. Accounting for uncertainties, we also observed intermediate subtypes, such as H/L (5 objects, 28%) and L/LL (3 objects, 17%). Based on these results, we conclude that the GAF is a viable source for some L chondrite meteorites. However, further investigations are needed to fully understand the family’s contribution to the broader meteorite population.”