CAI

A CAI (for calcium-aluminum-rich inclusion) is a small (up to a cm diameter) nodule ("lump") including calcium and aluminum found in some chondrites. Along with chondrules, they are of interest due to the conditions we know to be necessary to create them, as well as our ability to determine their age: together, these yield information about the earliest days of the solar system. CAI are classified in types:

• Type A or fluffy - melilite-rich; has fluffy edges.
• Type B - pyroxene-melilite-spinel-anorthite-rich.
• Type C - anorthite-rich.