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ABSTRACT Understanding the origin of bright shooting stars and their meteorite samples is among the most ancient of astronomy-related questions, which at larger scales has human

consequences1,2,3. As of today, only approximately 6% of meteorite falls have been firmly linked to their sources (Moon, Mars or asteroid (4) Vesta4,5,6). Here we show that approximately 70%

of meteorites originate from three recent break-ups of _D_ > 30 km asteroids that occurred 5.8, 7.6 and less than about 40 Myr ago. These break-ups, including the well-known Karin

family7, took place in the prominent yet old Koronis and Massalia families and are at the origin of the dominance of H and L ordinary chondrites among meteorite falls. These young families

are distinguished among all main belt asteroids by having a uniquely high abundance of small fragments. Their size–frequency distribution remained steep for a few tens of millions of years,

exceeding temporarily the production of metre-sized fragments by the largest old asteroid families (for example, Flora and Vesta). Supporting evidence includes the existence of associated

dust bands8,9,10, the cosmic-ray exposure ages of H-chondrite meteorites11,12 and the distribution of the pre-atmospheric orbits of meteorites13,14,15. Access through your institution Buy or

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ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS THE MASSALIA ASTEROID FAMILY

AS THE ORIGIN OF ORDINARY L CHONDRITES Article 16 October 2024 DIVERSE EVOLUTIONARY PATHWAYS OF SPHEROIDAL ASTEROIDS DRIVEN BY ROTATION RATE Article Open access 07 April 2025 PERIHELION

HISTORY AND ATMOSPHERIC SURVIVAL AS PRIMARY DRIVERS OF THE EARTH’S METEORITE RECORD Article 14 April 2025 DATA AVAILABILITY The initial conditions for the simulations and the data used to

produce the figures are available at http://sirrah.troja.mff.cuni.cz/~mira/hchondrites/. CODE AVAILABILITY The collisional code is available at

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Chodas, P. W. The population of near-Earth asteroids revisited and updated. _Icarus_ 365, 114452 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been

supported by the Czech Science Foundation (Grant No. 21-11058S to M.B. and D.V.), the French National Centre for Space Studies, the National Planetology Programme of the French National

Institute for Earth Sciences within the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and the Institut Origines (P.V.). The MIT component of this work is supported by NASA (Grant No.

80NSSC18K0849). We thank M. Granvik for discussions about the subject of this work. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics,

Institute of Astronomy, Prague, Czech Republic M. Brož & D. Vokrouhlický * Aix Marseille University, CNRS, CNES, LAM, Institut Origines, Marseille, France P. Vernazza * European Southern

Observatory (ESO), Santiago, Chile M. Marsset * Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA M. Marsset, F. E. DeMeo & R. P. Binzel * Department of

Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA D. Nesvorný Authors * M. Brož View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * P. Vernazza

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. Marsset View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * F.

E. DeMeo View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * R. P. Binzel View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * D. Vokrouhlický View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * D. Nesvorný View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS M.B. and P.V. led the research and wrote the manuscript. M.B. computed the collisional and orbital simulations. M.M., P.V., F.D. and R.B. provided and

analysed the spectroscopic observations. D.V. and D.N. interpreted the simulations. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to M. Brož. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors

declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature_ thanks Thomas Burbine, Sunao Hasegawa and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer

review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and

institutional affiliations. EXTENDED DATA FIGURES AND TABLES EXTENDED DATA FIG. 1 EXTRAPOLATION OF THE OBSERVED SFD FOR THE KORONIS2 FAMILY. The observed SFD is extrapolated down to 0.1 km

with the slope − 4.0, and then down to ~100 _μ_m with the slope − 2.7, which corresponds to a collisional equilibrium. To create such an SFD, a ~60-km parent body is needed. For reference,

the observed 2.1° IRAS dust band is indicated (violet). The interpolated population of metre-sized bodies is again indicated by an error bar. EXTENDED DATA FIG. 2 PRE-ATMOSPHERIC ORBITAL

ELEMENTS OF 14 H-CHONDRITE FALLS. Their osculating semimajor axis versus the inclination is plotted (crosses, error bars). A probability distribution of metre-sized meteoroids originating

from the Koronis2 and Karin families and crossing the orbit of Earth (_q_ < 1.3 au) is shown by colours. Some H chondrites have the semimajor axis 2.5-2.8 au and low inclination (≲3°),

still close to the source, whereas other orbits have been scattered by close encounters with terrestrial planets. Data from43; https://www.meteoriteorbits.info/. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary notes, Figs. 1–17 and Tables 1–8. PEER REVIEW FILE SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 1 The Koronis2 family is 7.6 Myr old from the convergence of their orbits.

SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 2 Excess of metre-sized bodies among young families with respect to large but old ones. SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 3 Extrapolation of the observed SFD for the Koronis2 family.

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permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Brož, M., Vernazza, P., Marsset, M. _et al._ Young asteroid families as the primary source of meteorites. _Nature_ 634, 566–571 (2024).

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