Primitive Asteroids: A Glimpse into the Origin of the Solar System

Abstract: Advances in the discovery and characterization of asteroids over the past few decades have revolutionized our understanding of how the solar system formed and evolved. Primitive asteroids are considered to be composed of the remnants of materials used during planetary formation. These asteroids have been less exposed to thermophysical processes and contain valuable information about the water and organic materials present during the prebiotic evolution of the asteroids and terrestrial planets. Thus, these objects are critical to understanding the early conditions of our planetary system and how those conditions evolved to what we can observe today. For example, mapping the water content on primitive asteroids is relevant to understand how the earth and its oceans were formed.

In this presentation we will perform a brief overview of the current understanding of solar system formation and evolution, including the challenges involved and how the observational work of primitive asteroids can help fill in gaps.