Scientists discover primordial asteroids from solar system's past

Scientists have discovered primordial objects from the solar system's earliest history. In the asteroid belt, just beyond Mars.

The hunt began when scientists wanted to track an asteroid named Bennu, and used computer models to follow the object to its source.

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What they found was a group of over 100 asteroids, some as large as 26 miles across.The study was led by Marco Delbo, an astrophysicist at the University of the Côte d'Azur, in France.

These dark-colored objects are now the oldest known family of asteroids. At roughly 4 billion years old. And support the idea that asteroids are chipped off from larger objects called "Planetesimals."

But, this find can tell us things about our own planet as well. Their age may give insight into how the earth and other planets first formed.