Was asteroid Bennu formed from a mixed inner- and outer-solar-system parent body due to Jupiter-driven scattering?

An alternative interpretation gives greater weight to transport from a more distant outer-Solar-System setting. Earlier work proposed that Bennu’s volatile-rich parent formed in the outer Solar System before being perturbed into the asteroid belt, while newer analyses identify outer-Solar-System and extra-solar components. This supports a scattering-based history, though it does not uniquely prove it.

• A prior model proposed that Bennu’s parent body formed in the outer Solar System and was later perturbed into the asteroid belt.
• Bennu preserves organic matter and other materials associated with the outer Solar System or molecular cloud, alongside refractory material formed close to the Sun.
• The diversity of components can be read as evidence for substantial radial transport or scattering before parent-body assembly.
• Outer-Solar-System material in Bennu does not by itself distinguish later Jupiter-driven scattering from local mixing near the water-ice line.

Featured sourceThe variety and origin of materials accreted by Bennu’s parent asteroid | Nature Astronomynature.com5 sourcesView sources