Howardite
Group of achondrites that originate from the asteroid 4 Vesta
title: "Howardite" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["planetary-science", "asteroidal-achondrites", "4-vesta"] description: "Group of achondrites that originate from the asteroid 4 Vesta" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howardite" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Group of achondrites that originate from the asteroid 4 Vesta ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox meteorite subdivision"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Subdivision | Group |
| Name | Howardite |
| Image | Howardite QUE94200.gif |
| Image_caption | QUE94200, a Howardite about 5 cm across, found in the Queen Alexandra Range in Antarctica. |
| Compositional_type | Stony |
| Type | Achondrite |
| Class | Asteroidal achondrite |
| Clan | HED meteorite |
| Subgroups | {{flatlist |
| Structural_classification | |
| Parent_body | 4 Vesta |
| Number_of_specimens | ~200 |
| TKW | |
| :: |
|Subdivision = Group |Name = Howardite |Alternative_names = |Image = Howardite QUE94200.gif |Image_caption = QUE94200, a Howardite about 5 cm across, found in the Queen Alexandra Range in Antarctica. |Image_alt_text = |Compositional_type = Stony |Type = Achondrite |Class = Asteroidal achondrite |Clan = HED meteorite |Subgroups = {{flatlist|
|Structural_classification = |Parent_body = 4 Vesta |Composition = |Petrologic_type = |Number_of_specimens = ~200 |TKW = |Image2 = |Image2_caption = |Image2_alt_text =
Characteristics
They are a regolith breccia consisting mostly of eucrite and diogenite fragments, although carbonaceous chondrules and impact melt can also occur. The rock formed from impact ejecta which was later buried by newer impacts and lithified due to the pressure from overlying layers. Regolith breccias are not found on Earth due to a lack of regolith on bodies which have an atmosphere.
Name
Howardites are named for Edward Howard, a pioneer of meteoritics. An arbitrary divide between howardites and the polymict eucrites is a 9:1 ratio of eucrite to diogenite fragments.
References
References
- Harry Y. McSween, ''Meteorites and their parent planets''. Cambridge University Press, 1999. {{ISBN. 0-521-58751-4, {{ISBN
- [http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/H/howardite.html Howardite] - daviddarling.info
- [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=500&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=Howardites Meteoritical Bulletin Database: Howardites]
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::