Related topics: solar system , asteroid
Meteorite
hideA meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth's surface. While in space it is called a meteoroid. When it enters the atmosphere, impact pressure causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. The term bolide refers to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface.
More generally, a meteorite on the surface of any celestial body is a natural object that has come from elsewhere in space. Meteorites have been found on the Moon and Mars.
Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transited the atmosphere or impacted the Earth are called falls. All other meteorites are known as finds. As of mid-2006, there are approximately 1,050 witnessed falls having specimens in the world's collections. In contrast, there are over 31,000 well-documented meteorite finds.
Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals; iron meteorites are largely composed of metallic iron-nickel; and, stony-iron meteorites contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material. Modern classification schemes divide meteorites into groups according to their structure, chemical and isotopic composition and mineralogy. See meteorites classification.
For more information about Meteorite, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with meteorite
Meteorite yields carbon crystals harder than diamond
Feb 03, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Two new types of ultra-hard carbon crystals have been found by researchers investigating the ureilite class Haverö meteorite that crashed to Earth in Finland in 1971. Ureilite meteorites are ...
Live long and prosper, Xanthoria elegans
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 01, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Space is a hostile environment for living things, but small organisms on the Expose-E experiment unit outside Europe's Columbus ISS laboratory module have resisted the solar UV radiation, ...
Rover Gives NASA an 'Opportunity' to View Interior of Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 21, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars exploration rover Opportunity is allowing scientists to get a glimpse deep inside Mars.
New research suggests that near-Earth encounters can 'shake' asteroids
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 20, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For decades, astronomers have analyzed the impact that asteroids could have on Earth. New research by MIT Professor of Planetary Science Richard Binzel examines the opposite scenario: that ...
Spectacular Mars images reveal evidence of ancient lakes (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 04, 2010 |
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Spectacular satellite images suggest that Mars was warm enough to sustain lakes three billion years ago, a period that was previously thought to be too cold and arid to sustain water on the surface, according ...
New Study of Meteorite Provides More Evidence for Ancient Life on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1996, when scientists examined a meteorite from Mars previously uncovered in Antarctica, they were intrigued by what looked like microscopic fossils of ancient Martian life forms. Now, ...
Earth's atmosphere came from outer space, find scientists
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The gases which formed the Earth's atmosphere - and probably its oceans - did not come from inside the Earth but from outer space, according to a study by University of Manchester and University ...
Absence of evidence for a meteorite impact event 13,000 years ago
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 08, 2009 |
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An international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have found no evidence supporting an extraterrestrial impact event at the onset of the Younger Dryas ~13000 years ...
Research gives new insights into 4 billion year-old meteorites
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have gained new insight into the makeup of ancient meteorites called Carbonaceous Chondrites, in research published in the October edition of the journal Earth Science and Planetary Le ...
Unusual meteorite found by time-lapse camera observatory
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An unusual meteorite with an interesting orbit has been tracked to the ground using a photographic observatory that records time-lapse images of fireballs traveling across the sky.
Latvian experts say meteorite crater was hoax (Update)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 26, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Scientists investigating a large crater initially believed to have been caused by a meteorite said a closer analysis Monday revealed it was a hoax.
Building Planet Earth
Oct 22, 2009 |
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A new study shows how rocky planets are formed from the manic swirl of gas and dust that surround a young star, and determines what chemical building blocks are used to construct the planets. Understanding ...
Geologists point to outer space as source of the Earth's mineral riches
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 18, 2009 |
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According to a new study by geologists at the University of Toronto and the University of Maryland, the wealth of some minerals that lie in the rock beneath the Earth's surface may be extraterrestrial in origin.
Meteorite from Sept. 25 fireball event recovered and presented
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 16, 2009 |
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When Tony Garchinski heard a loud crash just after 9 p.m. on Friday, September 25 he didn't think much of it. That is, until he awoke the next morning to find the windshield of his mom's Nissan Pathfinder ...
Water Bears to Travel to Martian Moon, Test Theory of Transpermia
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny microscopic creatures commonly known as water bears (also called Tardigrades), along with a few other life forms, will be sent to the Martian moon Phobos to test whether organisms can ...
