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News tagged with meteorite

Mighty Martian meteorite lands at UK's Natural History Museum

A rare Martian meteorite that could help unravel the mysteries of Mars has arrived at the Natural History Museum in London today, obtained with the support of a donor.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Plan to move Argentine meteorite to Germany blocked

An unlikely alliance between the native Moqoit people and leading Argentine scientists has thwarted plans to ship the world's second largest meteorite to Germany as a prestigious art exhibit.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Photo from NASA Mars orbiter shows wind's handiwork

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some images of stark Martian landscapes provide visual appeal beyond their science value, including a recent scene of wind-sculpted features from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Curtin geologists make a 'shocking' discovery

Research led by Curtin University geologists has uncovered a wealth of new evidence in the mineral zircon from lunar rock samples recovered during NASA’s Apollo missions, revealing indisputable proof ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The chemistry of exploding stars

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fundamental chemical processes in predecessors of our solar system are now a bit better understood: An international team led by Peter Hoppe, researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

ASU's Center for Meteorite Studies acquires exotic piece of Mars

(PhysOrg.com) -- Arizona State University’s Center for Meteorite Studies has acquired a significant new sample for its collection, a rare martian meteorite that fell in southern Morocco in July 2011. ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 18, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Scientists confirm rocks fell from Mars (Update)

They came from Mars, not in peace, but in pieces. Scientists are confirming that 15 pounds of rock collected recently in Morocco fell to Earth from Mars during a meteorite shower last July.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 17, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (10) | comments 3

Quasicrystal is extraterrestrial in origin

A rare and exotic mineral, so unusual that it was thought impossible to exist, came to Earth on a meteorite, according to an international team of researchers led by Princeton University scientists. The discovery ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 13, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (37) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Stolen New Mexico meteorite worth $20K-$40K found

(AP) -- A meteorite that landed in Russia in the 1940s and was recently stolen from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque has been located.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Third lunar mineral - Tranquillityite found in Western Australia

(PhysOrg.com) -- Back in the heyday of the Apollo moon program, hundreds of pounds of rock samples were carted back to Earth by visiting astronauts. Those samples were then pored over more thoroughly by geologists ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Research team suggests rock found in Russia an extraterrestrial quasicrystal

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes in science, the journey is just as interesting as the findings, and that certainly appears to be the case with a disparate group of scientists and their involvement with a simple ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (15) | comments 4 | with audio podcast report

Space mountain produces terrestrial meteorites

When NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around giant asteroid Vesta in July, scientists fully expected the probe to reveal some surprising sights. But no one expected a 13-mile high mountain, two and a half ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 02, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Was that Santa up there? No, Soyuz rocket debris

A ball of light streaking across the night sky in northern Europe on Saturday at a time when many imagined that Father Christmas was doing his rounds was nothing more than Soyuz rocket debris, Belgian experts ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 25, 2011 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (13) | comments 3

New app helps NASA keep track of meteoroids

Surprising but true: Every day, on average, more than 40 tons of meteoroids strike our planet. Most are tiny specks of comet dust that disintegrate harmlessly high up in Earth's atmosphere, producing a slow ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

The Misplaced Stuff: NASA loses moon, space rocks

Astronauts may have had the `right stuff' to go to the moon, but when it comes to keeping track of what they brought back, NASA seems to have misplaced some of that stuff.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 13

Meteorite

A 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.

Related topics: solar system , asteroid