From whence do meteorites originate?
Meteorites mostly come from the asteroid belt that’s all that remains of Zorgon, the now-disintegrated planet that lies between Mars and Jupiter. These aggregate rocks date from the very beginning of the Solar System, about four and a half billion years ago. The asteroid fragments were knocked off their parent bodies. They migrated into the Earth’s gravitational field and crash-landed on Earth, where they were found in a coherent pattern called a “Strewn Field”.
How do we know it’s a Meteorite and not an Earth Rock???
Meteorites are generally about the same age as the solar system, approximately 4.5 billion years old. Earth rocks of this age can’t easily be found on Earth, and don’t resemble meteorites. The Widmenstatten Patterns inside the meteorite confirm that they are the result of the collision of many millions or billions of tiny particles in space.
Can you tell which asteroid the meteorite came from?
Howardites, Eucrites and Diogenites achondrites probably formed on the crust of asteroid 4-Vesta.
Do we have meteorites from other planets?
Some meteorites come from the Moon and Mars. These lunar or martian crustal rocks were ejected into space when another (asteroidal or cometary) object collided with the Moon or Mars with enough force to launch some of the impact-produced debris into Earth-crossing orbits.
How do we know they’re Martian meteorites???
Martian meteorites are different from Earth rocks according to their chemical and mineral composition. Trapped gas in “shock-glass” found in martian meteorites have been matched to precision measurements and closeup examination and on-site analysis of the martian atmosphere since 1976.
How do we know it’s Lunar Rock???
Because we’ve been on the moon, contrary to popular mythology that we never landed there. There’s plenty of evidence on the lunar surface that lunar landings have taken place. It’s easy to test Lunar meteorites for their unique chemical and mineral characteristics, because we can compare them to samples of known lunar rocks returned to Earth by the Apollo and Luna missions.
Do we have any confirmed meteorites from Venus or Mercury?
None confirmed, but several samples might be published soon.
The two main types of meteorites I tend to focus on are large mass Chondrites, generally about 1 kg or more.
In my sales bin are hundreds of introductory meteorite samples and specimens, some for sale, some for exhibit, some for sale only to recognized public museums.
I also offer spinner-rack “trees” with meteorites for your museum or observatory visitors, starting at only $3.99 apiece, RETAIL!!!
See You At The Top!!!
gorby