Mineralogical Variations Among High Albedo E-Type Asteroids: Implications for Asteroid Igneous Processes

Abstract

The link between the E-type asteroids and the enstatite achondrites (aubrites) was first proposed for the original E-asteroid, 44 Nysa. The association was based on the high albedos and the featureless spectra shared by the E-asteroids and the aubrites. Among the plausible geologic and meteoritic materials, only enstatite (the magnesium end-member of the pyroxene solid solution series) is sufficiently abundant to comprise asteroid-sized bodies. However, the presence of a weak 0.89 m absorption feature in the spectrum of 44 Nysa indicates that its pyroxene contains a small amount of Fe(2+) but still substantially more than any aubrite present in the meteorite collection. The original E-class was defined based on its high albedo and flat to slightly reddish spectrum. In the absence of albedo data, the E-type was degenerate with the M- and P-types, and together these were designated as X-types. Recently, a taxonomy has been proposed to identify E-types in the absence of albedo data. In this newer classification system three subdivisions of the X-type have been proposed, including Xc, Xe and Xk. Of nine albedo-defined E-types [d], this newer non-albedo based taxonomy produced the following classifications: X-1 asteroid; Xc-2 asteroids; Xe-5 asteroids; and Xk-1 asteroid. Although the Xe subtype includes the largest number of albedo-defined E-types, most of the remaining 24 Xe-types can be excluded based on their low measured IRAS albedos, ranging from 0.116 to 0.329, which are below the lower albedo limit of the E-class (0.34) and substantially below that of the lowest albedo an actual E-type asteroid (0.41). The present discussion will be limited to unambiguous E-type asteroids determined on albedo criteria.