Youngest Known Asteroids Discovered

A newly discovered cluster of asteroids formed 5.8 million years ago could provide important clues about the origins of the solar system, scientists reported in Thursday’s issue of Nature. Astronomers at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., discovered the family of 39 asteroids in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and for the first time used a computer model to accurately date when they were formed.

At 5.8 million years old, the family is the youngest known asteroid cluster in the 4.5-billion-year lifetime of the solar system. Others are hundreds of millions of years old. The cluster, formed when an asteroid 15 miles in diameter was struck by a smaller object, could help answer questions about what happens when asteroids break up and whether one on course for a collision with Earth could be diverted.