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
Earth's atmosphere came from outer space, find scientists
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
18 hours ago |
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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 ...
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 ...
Astronomers capture spectacular meteor footage and images (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers from The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada have released footage of a meteor that was approximately 100 times brighter than a full moon. The meteor lit up the skies ...
Scientists see water ice in fresh meteorite craters on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists are seeing sub-surface water ice that may be 99 percent pure halfway between the north pole and the equator on Mars, thanks to quick-turnaround observations from orbit of fresh ...
Researchers make rare meteorite find using new camera network in Australian desert
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered where in the Solar System it came from, in a very rare finding published today ...
Patagonia site of world's biggest crater field: study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 08, 2009 |
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Argentina can lay claim to the world's largest crater field, a volcanic area in Patagonia known as the "Devil's Slope," according to a study released Tuesday.
Extraterrestrial platinum was 'stirred' into the Earth
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A research program aimed at using platinum as an exploration guide for nickel has for the first time been able to put a time scale on the planet’s large-scale convection processes.
Mars breakthrough: Scientists uncover red planet's hot and steamy secrets
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An analysis of Martian meteorites has led scientists to believe that Mars was molten for up to 100 million years after it formed, thwarting the evolution of early life on the planet.
Meteorite bombardment may have made Earth more habitable
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 01, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Large bombardments of meteorites approximately four billion years ago could have helped to make the early Earth and Mars more habitable for life by modifying their atmospheres, suggests the ...
Dinosaurs declined before mass extinction
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 30, 2009 |
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Dinosaurs were dying out much earlier than the mass extinction event 65 million years ago, Natural History Museum scientists report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society journal today.
Cool Stars Have Different Mix of Life-Forming Chemicals
Apr 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Life on Earth is thought to have arisen from a hot soup of chemicals. Does this same soup exist on planets around other stars? A new study from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope hints that planets ...
Team Finds Riches in Meteorite Treasure Hunt
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 31, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Just before dawn on Oct. 7, 2008, an SUV-sized asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded harmlessly over the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan. Scientists expected the asteroid, called ...
Asteroid Impact Helps Trace Meteorite Origins
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The car-sized asteroid that exploded above the Nubian Desert last October was small compared to the dinosaur-killing, civilization-ending objects that still orbit the sun. But that didn't ...
