Although there are a large number of sub classes, meteorites are divided into three main groups: irons, stones and stony-irons.

Identification of a genuine meteorite takes a practiced eye, but there are a number of simple tests that can help hopeful rock hounds determine if they have stumbled across a rare space rock, or just a common earthbound stone. Meteorites tend to look different from the ordinary terrestrial rocks around them.

A meteorite is a rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy.

Meteorites are fragments of rock or metal that fall to Earth from space. They are very rare, but many people find unusual rocks or pieces of metal and wonder if they might have found a meteorite. The USGS doesn't verify meteorites, but they have several properties that help distinguish them from other rocks:

2024年4月4日 · More than 60,000 meteorites have been found on Earth. Scientists have divided these meteorites into three main types: stony, iron, and stony-iron. Each of these types has many sub-groups. Stony Meteorites. Stony meteorites are made up of minerals that contain silicates —material made of silicon and oxygen.

Meteorites are rocks, usually containing a great deal of extraterrestrial iron, which were once part of planets or large asteroids. These celestial bodies broke up, or perhaps never fully formed, …

2024年6月5日 · Meteorites are fragments of extraterrestrial bodies that survive the journey through Earth's atmosphere and reach the surface. They provide valuable insight into the formation and evolution of our solar system.

2025年1月18日 · Meteorite, any fairly small natural object from interplanetary space—i.e., a meteoroid—that survives its passage through Earth’s atmosphere and lands on the surface. In modern usage the term is broadly applied to similar objects that land on the surface of other comparatively large bodies.

Meteorites are rocks from space that pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and survive impact with the ground. According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, tens of thousands of meteorites the size of a grain of rice or smaller enter Earth’s atmosphere daily.

Meteorites are unusual and rare rocks of extraterrestrial origin and are divided broadly into three types: stony, stony-iron and iron. The majority of meteorites on Earth come from the asteroid belt, a band of planetary debris orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.