The Puerto Lápice eucrite. Free sample delivery from vesta : trajectory, orbital solutions, and shock history from cathodoluminiscence

Abstract

A daylight fireball was witnessed all over Spain in the afternoon of May 10, 2007. Several pictures of the fireball’s train taken from different locations in Spain, and eyewitnesses reports allowed the determination of its trajectory and range of orbital solutions. The progenitor meteoroid was in an Apollo-type orbit, with low inclination and perihelion distance just below 1 Astronomical Unit [1]. The meteorite was recovered a few weeks after its fall, and presented to the community in the Meteoroids 2007 conference of Barcelona in June 2007 [2]. A detailed characterization of Puerto Lápice meteorite revealed its eucritic and brecciated nature [3]. Oxygen isotopes also confirmed that it belongs to the HED suite, the main group of basaltic eucrites [3]. The meteorite probably suffered a complex shock history as reveals the presence of abundant shock veins that evidence at least three different shock events.