Overview

• A Southwest Research Institute team reports in the Planetary Science Journal that near- and mid-infrared spectra of main-belt asteroid (142) Polana closely match data linked to samples from near-Earth asteroids Bennu and Ryugu.
• Lead author Dr. Anicia Arredondo says the similarities support an origin in the Polana collisional family formed by an early solar-system breakup.
• The researchers acknowledge spectral differences among the three bodies but judge them consistent with surface changes from solar radiation and micrometeoroid impacts, as noted by co-author Dr. Tracy Becker.
• The study secured James Webb Space Telescope observations of Polana and compared them with laboratory and spacecraft spectra derived from JAXA’s Hayabusa2 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample returns.
• Polana is about 33 miles wide, Ryugu is roughly twice Bennu’s one‑third‑mile size, and orbital dynamics can deliver such fragments into near‑Earth orbits without indicating a current impact threat.