Asteroid belt may be remains of half a dozen ancient planets

They might seem like boring old rocks, but asteroids and meteorites have some fascinating stories to tell about the history of the solar system. New research from the University of Florida has now traced back the origins of almost all asteroids in the inner belt to just five or six ancient minor planets.

more…

Tau.Neutrino said:

Asteroid belt may be remains of half a dozen ancient planets

They might seem like boring old rocks, but asteroids and meteorites have some fascinating stories to tell about the history of the solar system. New research from the University of Florida has now traced back the origins of almost all asteroids in the inner belt to just five or six ancient minor planets.

more…

My first reaction to this was – what utter rubbish. But thinking further, it’s not rubbish because asteroid belt asteroids come in families with similar orbital radius, inclination and composition. While it’s not certain that any of these families comes from a protoplanet collision, it is possible.