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A meteorite is a lump of srace rock that survives a fiery passage fhrough Earth’s atmosphere and hits the planet’s -surface. Air-friętion slows down the meteorite and much of the rock’s surface is boiled away, leaving bphind a yąry bright trail of gas and dust. This is seen from Earth and called a firet^ilf.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Meteorites are named after the places where they are found. For example, when, on September 21, 1949, a baseball-size lump of rock fell through the roof of the Prince Llewellyn hotel in Beddgelert, Wales, it was named Beddgelert.

Types of meteorites

Stony

meteorites

Asteroid meteorites with compositions similar to Earth’s rocky mantle are classed as stony meteorites.

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Iron meteorites

Those with a composition iike Earth's central iron-nickel core are classed as iron meteorites.

Meteorite origins

Almost all (99.9 percent) meteorites come from the asteroid belt—rocky materiał between Mars and Jupiter that was unused when the planets formed. A few (around 0.05 percent from each) are from the surfaces of the Moon and Mars, having been blasted off these planets after being hit by rocks.

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On August 10, 1972, a space rock as bright as the fuli Moon moved through the sky over North America. Yet rather than hit Earth, it skipped off!

It was detected at 47 miles (76 km) above Utah, then 36 miles (58 km) above Montana, but then left Earth’s atmosphere and went off to orbit the Sun.

Ho w to:

find a meteorite

Stony-irons

Meteorites madę from a mixture of the above are called stony-irons. They come from asteroids not big enough to melt.

Lunar

meteorites

Meteorites from the Moon’s surface can be recognized by their similarity to the samples brought to Earth by the Apollo astronauts.

Martian

meteorites

Rock from Mars can be recognized by the smali amounts of gas within it similar to that found in the Martian atmosphere.

\J I ■ Start in an area where rocks are unusual and will stand out, such as the snowy landscape of Antarctica.

02,

Select a region to sun/ey—carefully drive across it looking around you for dark rocks against the white snów.

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03,

On spotting a rock, stop, photograph it, measure it, and record its position before placing it in a specimen bag.

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