221 Eos: A remnant of a partially differentiated parent body?

Abstract

The asteroid 221 Eos and the objects belonging to its associated family - most of which belong to the K taxonomic class, have been traditionally associated with CO3/CV3 meteorites. The 52 color spectrum and the SMASSIR spectrum of 221 Eos in the NIR region, combined with the SMASSII spectrum in the visible, has now been compared to the whole RELAB meteorites database updated in July 2003. In this paper we present the first observational evidence that 221 Eos is analogous to a differentiated meteorite: the anomalous stone Divnoe. This link suggests that the the parent body of the Eos dynamical family was partially differentiated, with a thermal history quite different from what is currently accepted. © ESO 2005.