View source for Meteorite

{{short description|Solid debris from outer space that hits a planetary surface}}
{{About|debris from space that survives impact with the ground}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
[[File:Namibie Hoba Meteorite 05.JPG|thumb|The 60-[[tonne]], {{cvt|2.7|m|ft|adj=mid|-long}} [[Hoba meteorite]] in Namibia is the largest known intact meteorite.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Meteorites and their parent planets |last=McSween |first= Harry |author-link=Harry McSween |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-58303-9 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge |oclc=39210190}}</ref>]]

A '''meteorite''' is a [[Rock (geology)|rock]] that originated in [[outer space]] and has fallen to the surface of a planet or [[Natural satellite|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. It then becomes a [[meteor]] and forms a [[Meteoroid#Fireball|fireball]], also known as a shooting star; astronomers call the brightest examples "[[Bolide#Astronomy|bolides]]". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an [[impact crater]].<ref name="WoodsHoleUSGS">{{citation |mode=cs1 |author=C. Wylie Poag |url=https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/epubs/bolide/introduction.html |section=Introduction: What is a Bolide? |title=The Chesapeake Bay Bolide: Modern Consequences of an Ancient Cataclysm |date=1 April 1998 |publisher=US Geological Survey, Woods Hole Field Center |access-date=16 September 2011 |archive-date=5 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905043743/http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/epubs/bolide/introduction.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transit the atmosphere and [[Impact event|impact the Earth]] are called [[meteorite falls]]. All others are known as [[meteorite finds]]. Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites that are rocks, mainly composed of [[silicate minerals]]; [[iron meteorite]]s that are largely composed of [[ferronickel]]; and stony-iron meteorites that contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material. Modern [[Meteorite classification|classification]] schemes divide meteorites into groups according to their structure, chemical and isotopic composition and mineralogy. "Meteorites" less than ~1&nbsp;mm in diameter are classified as [[micrometeorites]], however micrometeorites differ from meteorites in that they typically melt completely in the atmosphere and fall to Earth as quenched droplets. Extraterrestrial meteorites have been found on the Moon and on Mars.<ref>{{cite journal 
|last=McSween |first=Harry Y. Jr. |author-link=Harry McSween |year=1976 |title=A new type of chondritic meteorite found in lunar soil |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=193–199 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(76)90211-9 |bibcode=1976E&PSL..31..193M}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rubin |first=Alan E. |year=1997 |title=The Hadley Rille enstatite chondrite and its agglutinate-like rim: Impact melting during accretion to the Moon |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=135–141|bibcode=1997M&PS...32..135R |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1997.tb01248.x|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=Opportunity Rover Finds an Iron Meteorite on Mars | publisher=JPL | date=19 January 2005 | url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20050119a.html | access-date=12 December 2006 | archive-date=15 November 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115192643/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20050119a.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Fall phenomena==
{{see also|Atmospheric entry|Meteorite fall}}
Most meteoroids disintegrate when entering the Earth's atmosphere. Usually, five to ten a year are observed to fall and are subsequently recovered and made known to scientists.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=%2A&sfor=names&ants=&falls=yes&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=year&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1| title = Meteoritical Bulletin| access-date = 28 May 2014| archive-date = 22 August 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160822210851/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=%2A&sfor=names&ants=&falls=yes&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=year&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1| url-status = live}}</ref> Few meteorites are large enough to create large [[impact crater]]s. Instead, they typically arrive at the surface at their [[terminal velocity]] and, at most, create a small pit.
[[File:Oriented Taza Meteorite.jpg|thumb|right|NWA 859 iron meteorite showing effects of atmospheric ablation]]
[[File:Novato Meteorite Impact Pit.jpg|thumb|right|The impact pit made by a 61.9-gram [[Novato meteorite]] when it hit the roof of a house on 17 October 2012.]]
[[File:Flensburg meteorit carsten jonas.jpg|thumb|Meteorite fallen near [[Flensburg]] in 2019.]]

Large meteoroids may strike the earth with a significant fraction of their [[escape velocity]] (second cosmic velocity), leaving behind a [[hypervelocity]] impact crater. The kind of crater will depend on the size, composition, degree of fragmentation, and incoming angle of the impactor. The force of such collisions has the potential to cause widespread destruction.<ref>{{cite report |first1=Clark R. |last1=Chapman |first2=Daniel D. |last2=Durda |first3=Robert E. |last3=Gold |title=The Comet/Asteroid Impact Hazard: A Systems Approach |year=2001 |url=http://www.internationalspace.com/pdf/NEOwp_Chapman-Durda-Gold.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304002442/http://www.internationalspace.com/pdf/NEOwp_Chapman-Durda-Gold.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory |via=International Space Consultants}}</ref><ref>[http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/ Make your own impact at the University of Arizona] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505045106/http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/ |date=5 May 2010 }}. Lpl.arizona.edu. Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref> The most frequent hypervelocity cratering events on the Earth are caused by iron meteoroids, which are most easily able to transit the atmosphere intact. Examples of craters caused by iron meteoroids include [[Barringer Meteor Crater]], [[Odessa Meteor Crater]], [[Wabar craters]], and [[Wolfe Creek crater]]; iron meteorites are found in association with all of these craters. In contrast, even relatively large stony or icy bodies such as small [[comet]]s or [[asteroid]]s, up to millions of tons, are disrupted in the atmosphere, and do not make impact craters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bland|first1=P.A. |last2= Artemieva |year=2006 |first2=Natalya A.|author2-link=Natalia Artemieva |title=The rate of small impacts on Earth |journal= Meteoritics and Planetary Science |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=607–631 |bibcode=2006M&PS...41..607B |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.2006.tb00485.x|s2cid=54627116 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Although such disruption events are uncommon, they can cause a considerable concussion to occur; the famed [[Tunguska event]] probably resulted from such an incident. Very large stony objects, hundreds of meters in diameter or more, weighing tens of millions of [[ton]]s or more, can reach the surface and cause large craters but are very rare. Such events are generally so energetic that the impactor is completely destroyed, leaving no meteorites. (The first example of a stony meteorite found in association with a large impact crater, the [[Morokweng impact structure]] in South Africa, was reported in May 2006.)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maier |first1=W.D.
|first2=M. A. G. |last2=Andreoli |first3=I. |last3=McDonald |first4=M. D. |last4=Higgins |first5=A. J.|last5=Boyce |first6=A. |last6=Shukolyukov |first7=G. W. |last7=Lugmair |first8=L. D. |last8=Ashwal |first9=P. |last9=Gräser |title=Discovery of a 25-cm asteroid clast in the giant Morokweng impact crater, South Africa |journal=Nature |volume=441 |pages=203–206|year=2006 |doi=10.1038/nature04751 |pmid=16688173 |issue=7090|bibcode = 2006Natur.441..203M |display-authors=9 |last10=Ripley |first10=E. M. |last11=Hart |first11=R. J. |s2cid=4373614
}}</ref>

Several phenomena are well documented during witnessed meteorite falls too small to produce hypervelocity craters.<ref>{{cite book 
|last1=Sears |first1=D. W. |year=1978|title=The Nature and Origin of Meteorites |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-85274-374-4}}</ref> The fireball that occurs as the meteoroid passes through the atmosphere can appear to be very bright, rivaling the sun in intensity, although most are far dimmer and may not even be noticed during the daytime. Various colors have been reported, including yellow, green, and red. Flashes and bursts of light can occur as the object breaks up. Explosions, detonations, and rumblings are often heard during meteorite falls, which can be caused by [[sonic boom]]s as well as [[shock wave]]s resulting from major fragmentation events. These sounds can be heard over wide areas, with a radius of a hundred or more kilometers. Whistling and hissing sounds are also sometimes heard but are poorly understood. Following the passage of the fireball, it is not unusual for a dust trail to linger in the atmosphere for several minutes.

As meteoroids are heated during [[atmospheric entry]], their surfaces melt and experience [[ablation]]. They can be sculpted into various shapes during this process, sometimes resulting in shallow thumbprint-like indentations on their surfaces called [[wikt:regmaglypt|regmaglypt]]s. If the meteoroid maintains a fixed orientation for some time, without tumbling, it may develop a conical "nose cone" or "heat shield" shape. As it decelerates, eventually the molten [[surface layer]] solidifies into a thin fusion crust, which on most meteorites is black (on some [[achondrite]]s, the fusion crust may be very light-colored). On stony meteorites, the [[heat-affected zone]] is at most a few mm deep; in iron meteorites, which are more thermally conductive, the structure of the metal may be affected by heat up to {{Convert|1|cm}} below the surface. Reports vary; some meteorites are reported to be "burning hot to the touch" upon landing, while others are alleged to have been cold enough to condense water and form a frost.<ref>[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=16885 Fall of the Muzaffarpur iron meteorite] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113072108/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=16885 |date=13 January 2021 }}. Lpi.usra.edu (11 April 1964). Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=15486 Fall of the Menziswyl stone] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113072017/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=15486 |date=13 January 2021 }}. Lpi.usra.edu (29 July 2006). Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref><ref>[http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1934PA.....42...59W&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf The Temperature of Meteorites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427233755/http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1934PA.....42...59W&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf |date=27 April 2021 }}. articles.adsabs.harvard.edu (February 1934). Retrieved on 28 May 2014.</ref>

Meteoroids that disintegrate in the atmosphere may fall as meteorite showers, which can range from only a few up to thousands of separate individuals. The area over which a meteorite shower falls is known as its [[strewn field]]. Strewn fields are commonly [[ellipse|elliptical]] in shape, with the major axis parallel to the direction of flight. In most cases, the largest meteorites in a shower are found farthest down-range in the strewn field.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Norton|first1=O. Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMgDhc8d7v4C&q=meteorite+size+distribution+%22strewn+field%22&pg=PA183|title=Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites|last2=Chitwood|first2=Lawrence|date=2008-05-25|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-84800-157-2|page=184|language=en}}</ref>

== Classification ==
{{Main|Meteorite classification}}
{{multiple image
 |direction=vertical
 |align=right
 |width=225
 |image1=Murnpeowie meteorite.jpg
 |image2=Meteorito Marília.jpg
 |image3=Pallasite-Esquel-RoyalOntarioMuseum-Jan18-09.jpg
 |image4=10499 - Detailed Slice.png|200px
 |caption1=[[Murnpeowie]] meteorite, an [[iron meteorite]] with [[wikt:regmaglypt|regmaglypts]] (thumprint-like depressions), from ablation caused by aerodynamic heating during fall
 |caption2=[[Marília (meteorite)|Marília Meteorite]], a [[chondrite]] H4, which fell in [[Marília]], Brazil, in 1971
 |caption3=A cut and polished slice of the [[Esquel (meteorite)|Esquel meteorite]], a stony-iron [[pallasite]]. Yellow-green [[olivine]] crystals are encased in the iron-nickel [[Matrix (geology)|matrix]].
 |caption4=Close-packed chondrules in a primitive chondrite NWA 10499. 
}}
Most meteorites are stony meteorites, classed as [[chondrite]]s and [[achondrite]]s. Only about 6% of meteorites are [[iron meteorite]]s or a blend of rock and metal, the [[Pallasite|stony-iron meteorite]]s. Modern classification of meteorites is complex. The review paper of Krot et al. (2007)<ref name="Krot:2007">{{cite book |volume=1 |title=Treatise on Geochemistry |chapter=1.05 Classification of Meteorites |doi=10.1016/B0-08-043751-6/01062-8 |isbn=978-0-08-043751-4 |first1=A.N. |last1=Krot |first2=K. |last2=Keil |first3=E.R.D. |last3=Scott |first4=C.A. |last4=Goodrich |first5=M.K. |last5=Weisberg |editor-last=Holland| editor-first=Heinrich D. |editor2-first=Karl K.|editor2-last=Turekian |pages=83–128 |publisher=Elsevier Ltd |year=2007}}</ref> summarizes modern meteorite taxonomy.

About 86% of the meteorites are chondrites,<ref name="mbdb-2011">[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php Meteoritical Bulletin Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629182647/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php |date=29 June 2013 }}. Lpi.usra.edu (1 January 2011). Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref><ref>[http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat// The NHM Catalogue of Meteorites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330004011/http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat// |date=30 March 2008 }}. Internt.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.metbase.de/ MetBase] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603040235/http://www.metbase.de/ |date=3 June 2016 }}. Metbase.de. Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref> which are named for the small, round particles they contain. These particles, or [[chondrule]]s, are composed mostly of silicate minerals that appear to have been melted while they were free-floating objects in space. Certain types of chondrites also contain small amounts of [[Organic material|organic matter]], including [[amino acid]]s, and [[presolar grains]]. Chondrites are typically about 4.55&nbsp;billion years old and are thought to represent material from the [[asteroid belt]] that never coalesced into large bodies. Like [[comet]]s, chondritic asteroids are some of the oldest and most primitive materials in the [[Solar System]]. Chondrites are often considered to be "the building blocks of the planets".

About 8% of the meteorites are [[achondrite]]s (meaning they do not contain chondrules), some of which are similar to terrestrial [[igneous rock]]s. Most achondrites are also ancient rocks, and are thought to represent crustal material of differentiated planetesimals. One large family of achondrites (the [[HED meteorite]]s) may have originated on the parent body of the [[Vesta family|Vesta Family]], although this claim is disputed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/ceresvesta/ |title=Dawn's Targets – Vesta and Ceres |publisher=Nasa.gov |date=12 July 2011 |access-date=4 May 2013 |archive-date=13 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113072038/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/ceresvesta/  }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Vesta and extensively melted asteroids: Why HED meteorites are probably not from Vesta |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |year=2013 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2013.09.002 |bibcode=2013E&PSL.381..138W |volume=381 |pages=138–146|last1=Wasson |first1=John T. }}</ref> Others derive from unidentified asteroids. Two small groups of achondrites are special, as they are younger and do not appear to come from the asteroid belt. One of these groups comes from the Moon, and includes rocks similar to those brought back to Earth by [[Apollo program|Apollo]] and [[Luna programme|Luna]] programs. The other group is almost certainly from [[Mars]] and constitutes the only materials from other planets ever recovered by humans.

About 5% of meteorites that have been seen to fall are [[iron meteorite]]s composed of iron-[[nickel]] [[alloy]]s, such as [[kamacite]] and/or [[taenite]]. Most iron meteorites are thought to come from the cores of planetesimals that were once molten. As with the Earth, the denser metal separated from silicate material and sank toward the center of the planetesimal, forming its core. After the planetesimal solidified, it broke up in a collision with another planetesimal. Due to the low abundance of iron meteorites in collection areas such as Antarctica, where most of the meteoric material that has fallen can be recovered, it is possible that the percentage of iron-meteorite falls is lower than 5%. This would be explained by a recovery bias; laypeople are more likely to notice and recover solid masses of metal than most other meteorite types. The abundance of iron meteorites relative to total Antarctic finds is 0.4%.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=%2A&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=Antarctica&srt=name&categ=Iron+meteorites&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1| title = Meteoritical Bulletin: Antarctic Iron Meteorites| access-date = 3 June 2014| archive-date = 29 November 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201129023051/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=*&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=Antarctica&srt=name&categ=Iron+meteorites&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=%2A&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=Antarctica&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1| title = Meteoritical Bulletin: All Antarctic Meteorites| access-date = 3 June 2014| archive-date = 23 August 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160823031439/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=*&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=Antarctica&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal| url-status = live}}</ref>

[[Stony-iron meteorite]]s constitute the remaining 1%. They are a mixture of iron-nickel metal and [[silicate]] minerals. One type, called [[pallasite]]s, is thought to have originated in the boundary zone above the core regions where iron meteorites originated. The other major type of stony-iron meteorites is the [[mesosiderite]]s.

[[Tektites]] (from Greek ''tektos'', molten) are not themselves meteorites, but are rather natural glass objects up to a few centimeters in size that were formed—according to most scientists—by the impacts of large meteorites on Earth's surface. A few researchers have favored tektites originating from the [[Moon]] as volcanic ejecta, but this theory has lost much of its support over the last few decades.

== Frequency ==
{{See also|Near-Earth object#Planet Earth collision probability with near-Earth objects|l1=Planet Earth collision probability with near-Earth objects}}

The diameter of the largest impactor to hit Earth on any given day is likely to be about {{convert|40|cm|in|abbr=off|sp=us}}, in a given year about {{convert|4|m|spell=in|}}, and in a given century about {{cvt|20|m||}}. These statistics are obtained by the following:

Over at least the range from {{convert|5|cm|in|abbr=off|sp=us|spell=in}} to roughly {{convert|300|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}}, the rate at which Earth receives meteors obeys a [[power law|power-law]] distribution as follows:

:<math>N(>D) = 37 D^{-2.7}\ </math>

where ''N'' (>''D'') is the expected number of objects larger than a diameter of ''D'' meters to hit Earth in a year.<ref name="Nature-01238">{{cite journal |first1=Peter |last1=Brown |first2=Richard E. |last2=Spalding |first3=Douglas O. |last3=ReVelle |first4=Edward |last4=Tagliaferri |first5=Simon P. |last5=Worden |title=The flux of small near-Earth objects colliding with the Earth |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=420 |issue=6913 |pages=294–296 |date=21 September 2002 |doi=10.1038/nature01238 |pmid=12447433 |bibcode=2002Natur.420..294B |s2cid=4380864 }}</ref> This is based on observations of bright meteors seen from the ground and space, combined with surveys of [[near-Earth asteroids]]. Above {{cvt|300|m||}} in diameter, the predicted rate is somewhat higher, with a 2 km (1.2 mi) asteroid (one teraton [[TNT equivalent]]) every couple of million years{{snd}}about 10 times as often as the power-law extrapolation would predict.

==Chemistry==
In 2015, NASA scientists reported that complex [[organic compound]]s found in [[DNA]] and [[RNA]], including [[uracil]], [[cytosine]], and [[thymine]], have been formed in the laboratory under [[outer space]] conditions, using starting chemicals, such as [[pyrimidine]], found in meteorites. Pyrimidine and [[polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons]] (PAHs) may have been formed in [[red giant]]s or in [[Cosmic dust|interstellar dust]] and gas clouds, according to the scientists.<ref name="NASA-20150303">{{cite web |last=Marlaire |first=Ruth |title=NASA Ames Reproduces the Building Blocks of Life in Laboratory |url=http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-ames-reproduces-the-building-blocks-of-life-in-laboratory |date=3 March 2015 |work=[[NASA]] |access-date=5 March 2015 |archive-date=5 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305083306/http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-ames-reproduces-the-building-blocks-of-life-in-laboratory/  }}</ref>

In 2018, researchers found that 4.5&nbsp;billion-year-old meteorites found on Earth contained liquid water along with prebiotic complex organic substances that may be ingredients for life.<ref name="EA-20180110">{{cite news |author=Lawrence Berkeley National laboratory Staff |title=Ingredients for life revealed in meteorites that fell to Earth – Study, based in part at Berkeley Lab, also suggests dwarf planet in asteroid belt may be a source of rich organic matter |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/dbnl-ifl010918.php |date=10 January 2018 |work=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science|AAAS-Eureka Alert]] |access-date=11 January 2018 |archive-date=8 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208032857/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/dbnl-ifl010918.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="SA-20180110">{{cite journal |author=Chan, Queenie H. S. |display-authors=etal |title=Organic matter in extraterrestrial water-bearing salt crystals |date=10 January 2018 |journal=[[Science Advances]] |volume=4 |pages=eaao3521 |number=1, eaao3521 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aao3521 |pmid=29349297 |pmc=5770164 |bibcode=2018SciA....4.3521C }}</ref>

In 2019, scientists reported detecting sugar molecules in meteorites for the first time, including [[ribose]], suggesting that chemical processes on [[asteroid]]s can produce some organic compounds fundamental to life, and supporting the notion of an [[RNA world]] prior to a DNA-based [[Abiogenesis|origin of life]] on Earth.<ref name="NASA-20191118">{{cite news |last1=Steigerwald |first1=Bill |last2=Jones |first2=Nancy |last3=Furukawa |first3=Yoshihiro |title=First Detection of Sugars in Meteorites Gives Clues to Origin of Life |url=https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2019/sugars-in-meteorites |date=18 November 2019 |work=[[NASA]] |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-date=15 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115022856/https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2019/sugars-in-meteorites/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="PNAS-20191118">{{cite journal |author=Furukawa, Yoshihiro |display-authors=et al. |title=Extraterrestrial ribose and other sugars in primitive meteorites |date=18 November 2019 |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=116 |issue=49 |pages=24440–24445 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1907169116 |pmid=31740594 |pmc=6900709 |bibcode=2019PNAS..11624440F |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 2022, a Japanese group reported that they had found [[adenine]] (A), [[thymine]] (T), [[guanine]] (G), [[cytosine]] (C) and [[uracil]] (U) inside carbon-rich meteorites. These compounds 
are building blocks of [[DNA]] and [[RNA]], the [[genetic code]] of all [[life]] on Earth. These compounds have also occurred spontaneously in laboratory settings emulating conditions in outer space.<ref name="NC-20220426">{{cite journal |author=Oba, Yasuhiro |display-authors=et al |title=Identifying the wide diversity of extraterrestrial purine and pyrimidine nucleobases in carbonaceous meteorites |date=26 April 2022 |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |volume=13 |number=2008 |page=2008 |doi=10.1038/s41467-022-29612-x |pmid=35473908 |pmc=9042847 |bibcode=2022NatCo..13.2008O }}</ref><ref name="LS-20220428">[https://www.livescience.com/more-DNA-building-blocks-found-in-meteorites "These meteorites contain all of the building blocks of DNA"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815162013/https://www.livescience.com/more-DNA-building-blocks-found-in-meteorites |date=15 August 2023 }}, LiveScience, 28 April 2022</ref>

==Sources of meteorites found on Earth==
Until recently,{{When|date=October 2024}} the source of only about 6% of meteorites had been traced to their sources: the Moon, Mars, and asteroid Vesta.<ref>Marvin, U. B. The discovery and initial characterization of Allan Hills 81005: the first lunar meteorite. Geophys. Res. Lett. 10, 775–778 (1983).</ref><ref>Treiman, A. H., Gleason, J. D. & Bogard, D. D. The SNC meteorites are from Mars. Planet. Space Sci. 48, 1213–1230 (2000).</ref><ref> Thomas, P. C. etal. Impact excavation on asteroid 4 Vesta: Hubble Space Telescope results. Science 277, 1492–1495 (1997).</ref> Approximately 70% of meteorites found on Earth now appear to originate from break-ups of three asteroids.<ref> M Brož, P Vernazza, M Marsset, FE DeMeo, RP Binzel, D Vokrouhlický, D Nesvorný. Young asteroid families as the primary source of meteorites. Nature 634, 566-570 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08006-7 </ref>

==Weathering==
{{see also|Meteorite weathering}}
Most meteorites date from the early Solar System and are by far the oldest extant material on Earth. Analysis of terrestrial [[meteorite weathering|weathering]] due to water, salt, oxygen, etc. is used to quantify the degree of alteration that a meteorite has experienced. Several qualitative weathering indices have been applied to Antarctic and desertic samples.<ref name=weatheringofchondritic>P. A. Bland, M. E. Zolensky, G. K. Benedix, M. A. Sephton. ''"[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/books/MESSII/9041.pdf Weathering of Chondritic Meteorites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020152316/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/books/MESSII/9041.pdf |date=20 October 2020 }}"''</ref>

The most commonly employed weathering scale, used for [[ordinary chondrite]]s, ranges from [[Meteorite weathering scales#Weathering scales|W0]] (pristine state) to [[Meteorite weathering scales|W6]] (heavy alteration).

===Fossil meteorites===
"Fossil" meteorites are sometimes discovered by geologists. They represent the highly weathered remains of meteorites that fell to Earth in the remote past and were preserved in sedimentary deposits sufficiently well that they can be recognized through mineralogical and geochemical studies. The Thorsberg [[limestone]] quarry in Sweden has produced an anomalously large number – exceeding one hundred – fossil meteorites from the [[Ordovician]], nearly all of which are highly weathered L-chondrites that still resemble the original meteorite under a [[petrographic microscope]], but which have had their original material almost entirely replaced by terrestrial secondary mineralization. The extraterrestrial provenance was demonstrated in part through isotopic analysis of [[Relict (geology)|relict]] [[spinel]] grains, a mineral that is common in meteorites, is insoluble in water, and is able to persist chemically unchanged in the terrestrial weathering environment. Scientists believe that these meteorites, which have all also been found in Russia and China, all originated from the [[Ordovician meteor event|same source]], a collision that occurred somewhere between Jupiter and Mars.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heck |first1=Philipp |title=Fossil Meteorites Arrive at The Field Museum |url=https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/fossil-meteorites-arrive-field-museum |publisher=Field Museum of Natural History |access-date=4 March 2022 |date=12 November 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304230320/https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/fossil-meteorites-arrive-field-museum |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite CiteSeerX |last1=Muller |first1=Thomas |title=A rain of L-Chondrites in the Thorsberg quarry at Kinnekulle, southern Sweden |citeseerx=10.1.1.492.9937 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fossil Meteorites |url=https://meteorites.fieldmuseum.org/outreach/exhibit/fossil-meteorites |website=meteorites.fieldmuseum.org |publisher=Field Museum |access-date=27 August 2022 |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827145124/https://meteorites.fieldmuseum.org/outreach/exhibit/fossil-meteorites |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Boehnlein |first1=David |title=The story of the fossil meteorites |url=https://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/11/the-story-of-the-fossil-meteorites |website=Astronomy.com |publisher=Astronomy Magazine |access-date=27 August 2022 |date=29 November 2017 |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827145125/https://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/11/the-story-of-the-fossil-meteorites |url-status=live }}</ref> One of these fossil meteorites, dubbed [[Österplana 065]], appears to represent a distinct type of meteorite that is "extinct" in the sense that it is no longer falling to Earth, the parent body having already been completely depleted from the reservoir of [[near-Earth object]]s.<ref name="New Material">{{cite journal|last1=Schmitz|first1=B.|last2=Yin|first2=Q. -Z|last3=Sanborn|first3=M.E.|last4=Tassinari|first4=M.|last5=Caplan|first5=C.E.|last6=Huss|first6=G.R.|title=A new type of solar-system material recovered from Ordovician marine limestone|journal=Nature Communications|date=14 June 2016|volume=7|page=11851|doi=10.1038/ncomms11851|pmid=27299793|pmc=4911632|bibcode=2016NatCo...711851S}}</ref>

==Collection==
{{see also|Impact event}}
A "meteorite fall", also called an "observed fall", is a meteorite collected after its arrival was observed by people or automated devices. Any other meteorite is called a "meteorite find".<ref>{{cite web |first1=Michael K. |last1=Weisberg |first2=Timothy J. |last2=McCoy |first3=Alexander N. |last3=Krot |url=http://web.pdx.edu/~ruzickaa/meteorites/papers/WeisbergEtal2006-classification.pdf |title=Systematics and Evaluation of Meteorite Classification |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819125525/http://web.pdx.edu/~ruzickaa/meteorites/papers/WeisbergEtal2006-classification.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Ronald A. |last1=Oriti |first2=William B. |last2=Starbird |title=Introduction to astronomy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3vvAAAAMAAJ |year=1977 |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill Education|Glencoe Press]] |isbn=978-0-02-478560-2 |page=168}}</ref> There are more than 1,100 documented falls listed in widely used databases,<ref name=metbulldb>{{cite web |url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/ |title=Meteoritical Bulletin Database |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223220959/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/ |archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat/ |title=The Meteorite Catalogue Database at the Natural History Museum |website=internt.nhm.ac.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820092520/http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat/ |archive-date=20 August 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metbase.de/ |title=MetBase |website=metbase.de |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219010446/http://www.metbase.de/ |archive-date=19 December 2006}}</ref> most of which have specimens in modern collections. {{as of|January 2019}}, the ''Meteoritical Bulletin Database'' had 1,180 confirmed falls.<ref name=metbulldb/>

===Falls===

[[File:Benldmeteorite.jpg|thumb|Car seat and muffler hit by the [[Benld, Illinois|Benld]] meteorite in 1938, with the meteorite inset. An observed fall.]]
Most meteorite falls are collected on the basis of eyewitness accounts of the fireball or the impact of the object on the ground, or both. Therefore, despite the fact that meteorites fall with virtually equal probability everywhere on Earth, verified meteorite falls tend to be concentrated in areas with higher human population densities such as Europe, Japan, and northern India.

A small number of meteorite falls have been observed with automated cameras and recovered following calculation of the impact point. The first of these was the [[Přibram meteorite|Příbram meteorite]], which fell in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) in 1959.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ceplecha |first=Z. |year=1961 |title=Multiple fall of Příbram meteorites photographed |journal=Bull. Astron. Inst. Czechoslovakia |volume=12 |pages=21–46 |bibcode=1961BAICz..12...21C }}</ref> In this case, two cameras used to photograph meteors captured images of the fireball. The images were used both to determine the location of the stones on the ground and, more significantly, to calculate for the first time an accurate orbit for a recovered meteorite.

Following the Příbram fall, other nations established automated observing programs aimed at studying infalling meteorites. One of these was the ''Prairie Network'', operated by the [[Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]] from 1963 to 1975 in the [[Midwestern United States|midwestern US]]. This program also observed a meteorite fall, the ''Lost City'' chondrite, allowing its recovery and a calculation of its orbit.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCrosky |first1=R.E. |first2=A. |last2=Posen |first3=G. |last3=Schwartz |first4=C.-Y. |last4=Shao |title=Lost City Meteorite–Its Recovery and a Comparison with Other Fireballs |year=1971 |journal=J. Geophys. Res. |volume=76 |issue=17 |pages=4090–4108 |doi=10.1029/JB076i017p04090 |bibcode=1971JGR....76.4090M|hdl=2060/19710010847 |s2cid=140675097 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Another program in Canada, the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project, ran from 1971 to 1985. It too recovered a single meteorite, ''Innisfree'', in 1977.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell-Brown |first1=M. D. |last2=Hildebrand |first2=A. |year=2005 |title=A new analysis of fireball data from the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project (MORP) |journal=Earth, Moon, and Planets |volume=95 |pages=489–499|issue=1–4 |doi=10.1007/s11038-005-0664-9 |bibcode=2004EM&P...95..489C|s2cid=121255827 }}</ref> Finally, observations by the [[European Fireball Network]], a descendant of the original Czech program that recovered Příbram, led to the discovery and orbit calculations for the ''[[Neuschwanstein]]'' meteorite in 2002.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=J. |last1= Oberst |first2=D.|last2=Heinlein |first3=U. |last3=Köhler |first4=P. |last4=Spurný |year=2004 |title=The multiple meteorite fall of Neuschwanstein: Circumstances of the event and meteorite search campaigns |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=39 |issue=10 |pages=1627–1641 |bibcode=2004M&PS...39.1627O |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.2004.tb00062.x|s2cid= 59324805 |doi-access=free }}</ref> NASA has an automated system that detects meteors and calculates the orbit, magnitude, [[ground track]], and other parameters over the southeast USA, which often detects a number of events each night.<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Cooke
 | first = Bill
 | title = NASA's All Sky Fireball Network
 | publisher = NASA
 | url = http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/
 | access-date = 3 April 2013
 | archive-date = 4 February 2021
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210204060829/https://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref>

===Finds===

Until the twentieth century, only a few hundred meteorite finds had ever been discovered. More than 80% of these were iron and stony-iron meteorites, which are easily distinguished from local rocks. To this day, few stony meteorites are reported each year that can be considered to be "accidental" finds. The reason there are now more than 30,000 meteorite finds in the world's collections started with the discovery by [[Harvey H. Nininger]] that meteorites are much more common on the surface of the Earth than was previously thought.

====United States====
Nininger's strategy was to search for meteorites in the [[Great Plains]] of the United States, where the land was largely cultivated and the soil contained few rocks. Between the late 1920s and the 1950s, he traveled across the region, educating local people about what meteorites looked like and what to do if they thought they had found one, for example, in the course of clearing a field. The result was the discovery of more than 200 new meteorites, mostly stony types.<ref>[http://www.meteoritearticles.com/mitterlingmain.html Website by A. Mitterling] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113072143/http://www.meteoritearticles.com/mitterlingmain.html |date=13 January 2021 }}. Meteoritearticles.com. Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref>

In the late 1960s, [[Roosevelt County, New Mexico]] was found to be a particularly good place to find meteorites. After the discovery of a few meteorites in 1967, a public awareness campaign resulted in the finding of nearly 100 new specimens in the next few years, with many being by a single person, Ivan Wilson. In total, nearly 140 meteorites were found in the region since 1967. In the area of the finds, the ground was originally covered by a shallow, loose soil sitting atop a [[hardpan]] layer. During the [[dustbowl]] era, the loose soil was blown off, leaving any rocks and meteorites that were present stranded on the exposed surface.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Huss |first1=G.I. |last2=Wilson |first2=I.E. |year=1973 |title=A census of the meteorites of Roosevelt County, New Mexico |journal=Meteoritics |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=287–290 |bibcode=1973Metic...8..287H |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1973.tb01257.x}}</ref>

[[File:Meteorite hunting in Mojave desert.jpg|thumb|upright|A stony meteorite (H5) found just north of [[Barstow, California|Barstow]], California, in 2006]]

Beginning in the mid-1960s, amateur meteorite hunters began scouring the arid areas of the southwestern United States.<ref>[http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1964Metic...2..177H&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf A Preliminary Report on the Lucerne Valley, San {{sic|Bern|adino|nolink=y}} County, California, Aerolites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428002223/http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1964Metic...2..177H&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf |date=28 April 2021 }} Retrieved on 8 March 2018.</ref> To date, thousands of meteorites have been recovered from the [[Mojave Desert|Mojave]], [[Sonoran Desert|Sonoran]], [[Great Basin]], and [[Chihuahuan Desert]]s, with many being recovered on [[dry lake]] beds. Significant finds include the three-tonne [[Old Woman meteorite]], currently on display at the [[Desert Discovery Center]] in [[Barstow, California]], and the Franconia and Gold Basin meteorite strewn fields; hundreds of kilograms of meteorites have been recovered from each.<ref>[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10174 Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Franconia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928165142/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10174 |date=28 September 2020 }}. Lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved on 8 January 2020.</ref><ref>[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10940 Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Gold Basin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811155208/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10940 |date=11 August 2020 }}. Lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved on 8 January 2020.</ref><ref>[https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/bombardment2018/pdf/2006.pdf Found Locally in Arizona: Collisional Remnants of Planetesimal Affected by Impacts During the First Billion Years of Solar System History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301173741/https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/bombardment2018/pdf/2006.pdf |date=1 March 2020 }}. Bombardment: Shaping Planetary Surfaces and Their Environments 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2107). 30 September 2018. Retrieved on 5 February 2020.</ref> A number of finds from the American Southwest have been submitted with false find locations, as many finders think it is unwise to publicly share that information for fear of confiscation by the federal government and competition with other hunters at published find sites.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110726000445/http://www.discoverytrails.org/about2.html Old Woman Meteorite]. discoverytrails.org</ref><ref>[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=14706 Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Los Angeles meteorite] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603082205/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=14706 |date=3 June 2013 }}. Lpi.usra.edu (27 May 2009). Retrieved on 8 January 2020.</ref><ref>[http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com/2011/aug/0517.html The Meteorite List Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205230656/http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com/2011/aug/0517.html |date=5 February 2020 }}. meteorite-list-archives.com (24 August 2011). Retrieved on 5 February 2020.</ref> Several of the meteorites found recently are currently on display in the [[Griffith Observatory]] in Los Angeles, and at [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]]'s Meteorite Gallery.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140725062007/http://www.meteorites.ucla.edu/gallery/ The UCLA Meteorite Collection]. ucla.edu</ref>

====Antarctica====
[[File:ALH84001 structures.jpg|thumb|A [[scanning electron microscope]] revealed structures resembling bacteria fossils – in the meteorite [[ALH84001]] discovered in Antarctica in 1984. Microscopically, the features were initially interpreted as fossils of bacteria-like lifeforms. It has since been shown that similar [[magnetite]] structures can form without the presence of microbial life in hydrothermal systems.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Golden |first=D. C. |year=2001 |title=A simple inorganic process for formation of carbonates, magnetite, and sulfides in Martian meteorite ALH84001 |journal=American Mineralogist |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=370–375|bibcode=2001AmMin..86..370G |doi=10.2138/am-2001-2-321 |s2cid=54573774 }}</ref>]] 
A few meteorites were found in [[Antarctica]] between 1912 and 1964. In 1969, the 10th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition found nine meteorites on a [[Blue ice area|blue ice field]] near the [[Yamato Mountains]]. With this discovery, came the realization that movement of [[ice sheet]]s might act to concentrate meteorites in certain areas.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yoshida|first=Masaru|date=2010|title=Discovery of the Yamato Meteorites in 1969|journal=Polar Science|volume=3|issue=4|pages=272–284|doi=10.1016/j.polar.2009.11.001|issn=1873-9652|bibcode=2010PolSc...3..272Y|doi-access=free}}</ref> After a dozen other specimens were found in the same place in 1973, a Japanese expedition was launched in 1974 dedicated to the search for meteorites. This team recovered nearly 700 meteorites.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Meteorites: A Journey Through Space and Time|last1=Bevan|first1=Alex|last2=De Laeter|first2=John|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|year=2002|location=Washington DC|page=55}}</ref>

Shortly thereafter, the United States began its own program to search for Antarctic meteorites, operating along the [[Transantarctic Mountains]] on the other side of the continent: the Antarctic Search for Meteorites ([[ANSMET]]) program.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cassidy |first1=William |title=Meteorites, Ice, and Antarctica: A personal account |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-25872-2 |pages=17–20,28–29,337–341}}</ref> European teams, starting with a consortium called "EUROMET" in the 1990/91 season, and continuing with a program by the Italian Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide have also conducted systematic searches for Antarctic meteorites.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Delisle|first1=George|last2=Franchi|first2=Ian|last3=Rossi|first3=Antonio|last4=Wieler|first4=Rainer|date=1993|title=Meteorite finds by EUROMET near Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, Antarctica|journal=Meteoritics|language=en|volume=28|issue=1|pages=126–129|doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1993.tb00257.x|bibcode=1993Metic..28..126D|issn=1945-5100}}</ref>

The Antarctic Scientific Exploration of China has conducted successful meteorite searches since 2000. A Korean program (KOREAMET) was launched in 2007 and has collected a few meteorites.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2nd KOREAMET found 16 meteorites |url=http://fireball.snu.ac.kr/koreamet/ |publisher=KORea Expedition for Antarctic METeorites (KOREAMET) |date=19 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414211419/http://fireball.snu.ac.kr/koreamet/ |archive-date=14 April 2008 |access-date=17 December 2011}}</ref> The combined efforts of all of these expeditions have produced more than 23,000 classified meteorite specimens since 1974, with thousands more that have not yet been classified. For more information see the article by Harvey (2003).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Harvey |first=Ralph |year=2003 |title=The origin and significance of Antarctic meteorites |journal= Geochemistry|volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=93–147 |doi=10.1078/0009-2819-00031|bibcode = 2003ChEG...63...93H }}</ref>

====Australia====
At about the same time as meteorite concentrations were being discovered in the cold desert of Antarctica, collectors discovered that many meteorites could also be found in the hot [[deserts of Australia]]. Several dozen meteorites had already been found in the [[Nullarbor]] region of [[Western Australia|Western]] and [[South Australia]]. Systematic searches between about 1971 and the present recovered more than 500 others,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bevan |first1=A.W.R. |last2=Binns |first2=R.A.|year=1989 |title=Meteorites from the Nullarbor region, Western Australia: I. A review of past recoveries and a procedure for naming new finds |journal=Meteorites |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=127–133 |bibcode=1989Metic..24..127B |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1989.tb00954.x}}</ref> ~300 of which are currently well characterized. The meteorites can be found in this region because the land presents a flat, featureless, plain covered by [[limestone]]. In the extremely arid climate, there has been relatively little [[weathering]] or [[sedimentation]] on the surface for tens of thousands of years, allowing meteorites to accumulate without being buried or destroyed. The dark-colored meteorites can then be recognized among the very different looking limestone pebbles and rocks.

====The Sahara====
[[File:NWA869Meteorite.jpg|thumb|This small meteorite is from the NWA 869 strewn field, near [[Tindouf]], Algeria. Currently classified as an L3.8-6 [[ordinary chondrite]] it shows [[breccia]]tion and abundant [[chondrule]]s.<ref>Meteoritical Bulletin Database [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=31890 www.lpi.usra.edu]</ref>]]
In 1986–87, a German team installing a network of seismic stations while prospecting for oil discovered about 65 meteorites on a flat, desert plain about {{Convert|100|km}} southeast of Dirj (Daraj), [[Libya]]. A few years later, a desert enthusiast saw photographs of meteorites being recovered by scientists in Antarctica, and thought that he had seen similar occurrences in [[North Africa|northern Africa]]. In 1989, he recovered about 100 meteorites from several distinct locations in Libya and Algeria. Over the next several years, he and others who followed found at least 400 more meteorites. The find locations were generally in regions known as [[desert|regs]] or [[hamada]]s: flat, featureless areas covered only by small pebbles and minor amounts of sand.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bischoff |first1=A. |last2=Geiger |first2=T.|year=1995 |title=Meteorites from the Sahara: find locations, shock classification, degree of weathering and pairing |journal=Meteoritics |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=113–122 |bibcode=1995Metic..30..113B |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1995.tb01219.x|doi-access=free }}</ref> Dark-colored meteorites can be easily spotted in these places. In the case of several meteorite fields, such as [[Dar al Gani]], Dhofar, and others, favorable light-colored geology consisting of [[Base (chemistry)|basic]] rocks (clays, [[Dolomite (mineral)|dolomite]]s, and [[limestone]]s) makes meteorites particularly easy to identify.<ref>{{cite journal |bibcode=2002M&PS...37.1079S |last1=Schlüter |first1=J. |last2=Schultz |first2=L. |last3=Thiedig |first3=F. |last4=Al-Mahdi |first4=B. O. |last5=Abu Aghreb |first5=A. E. |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=37 |issue=8 |pages=1079–1093 |year=2002 |title=The Dar al Gani meteorite field (Libyan Sahara): Geological setting, pairing of meteorites, and recovery density |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.2002.tb00879.x|s2cid=96452620 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Although meteorites had been sold commercially and collected by hobbyists for many decades, up to the time of the Saharan finds of the late 1980s and early 1990s, most meteorites were deposited in or purchased by museums and similar institutions where they were exhibited and made available for [[Scientific method|scientific research]]. The sudden availability of large numbers of meteorites that could be found with relative ease in places that were readily accessible (especially compared to Antarctica), led to a rapid rise in commercial collection of meteorites. This process was accelerated when, in 1997, meteorites coming from both the Moon and Mars were found in Libya. By the late 1990s, private meteorite-collecting expeditions had been launched throughout the Sahara. Specimens of the meteorites recovered in this way are still deposited in research collections, but most of the material is sold to private collectors. These expeditions have now brought the total number of well-described meteorites found in Algeria and Libya to more than 500.<ref>Meteoritical Bulletin Database [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/index.php?sea=sahara&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1 www.lpi.usra.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503115326/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/index.php?sea=sahara&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1 |date=3 May 2015 }}</ref>

====Northwest Africa====

{{anchor|NWA}}<!-- Used by incoming redirects -->

Meteorite markets came into existence in the late 1990s, especially in [[Morocco]]. This trade was driven by Western commercialization and an increasing number of collectors. The meteorites were supplied by nomads and local people who combed the deserts looking for specimens to sell. Many thousands of meteorites have been distributed in this way, most of which lack any information about how, when, or where they were discovered. These are the so-called "Northwest Africa" meteorites. When they get classified, they are named "Northwest Africa" (abbreviated NWA) followed by a number.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://meteoriticalsociety.org/?page_id=59| title = Guidelines for Meteorite Nomenclature| access-date = 29 May 2014| archive-date = 27 March 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140327210145/http://meteoriticalsociety.org/?page_id=59| url-status = live}}</ref> It is generally accepted that NWA meteorites originate in Morocco, Algeria, Western Sahara, Mali, and possibly even further afield. Nearly all of these meteorites leave Africa through Morocco. Scores of important meteorites, including Lunar and Martian ones, have been discovered and made available to science via this route. A few of the more notable meteorites recovered include [[Tissint meteorite|Tissint]] and [[Northwest Africa 7034]]. Tissint was the first witnessed Martian meteorite fall in more than fifty years; NWA 7034 is the oldest meteorite known to come from Mars, and is a unique water-bearing regolith breccia.

====Arabian Peninsula====
[[File:Meteoritenfund auf Wüstenpflaster.jpg|thumb|Meteorite find [[in situ]] on [[desert pavement]], [[Rub' al Khali]], Saudi Arabia. Probable [[chondrite]], weight 408.5 grams.]]
In 1999, meteorite hunters discovered that the desert in southern and central [[Oman]] were also favorable for the collection of many specimens. The gravel plains in the [[Dhofar]] and [[Al Wusta Region (Oman)|Al Wusta]] regions of Oman, south of the sandy deserts of the [[Empty Quarter|Rub' al Khali]], had yielded about 5,000 meteorites as of mid-2009. Included among these are a large number of [[lunar meteorite|lunar]] and [[mars meteorite|Martian]] meteorites, making Oman a particularly important area both for scientists and collectors. Early expeditions to Oman were mainly done by commercial meteorite dealers, however, international teams of Omani and European scientists have also now collected specimens.

The recovery of meteorites from Oman is currently prohibited by national law, but a number of international hunters continue to remove specimens now deemed national treasures. This new law provoked a small [[international incident]], as its implementation preceded any public notification of such a law, resulting in the prolonged imprisonment of a large group of meteorite hunters, primarily from Russia, but whose party also consisted of members from the US as well as several other European countries.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

==In human affairs==
[[File:Meteorite iron harpoon.jpg|thumb|A lance made from a [[Narwhal]] [[tusk]] with a meteorite iron head]]

Meteorites have figured into human culture since their earliest discovery as ceremonial or religious objects, as the subject of writing about events occurring in the sky and as a source of peril. The oldest known iron artifacts are nine small beads hammered from meteoritic iron. They were found in northern Egypt and have been securely dated to 3200 BC.<ref>Thilo Rehren and 14 others (2013), "5,000 years old Egyptian iron beads made from hammered meteoritic iron", ''Journal of Archaeological Science'', [https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.06.002 doi]</ref>

===Ceremonial or religious use===
Although the use of the metal found in meteorites is also recorded in myths of many countries and cultures where the celestial source was often acknowledged, scientific documentation only began in the last few centuries.

Meteorite falls may have been the source of [[Temple of Artemis#Ephesian Artemis|cultish worship]]. The cult in the [[Temple of Artemis]] at Ephesus, one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]], possibly originated with the observation and recovery of a meteorite that was understood by contemporaries to have fallen to the earth from [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], the principal Roman deity.<ref>"And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?" {{bibleverse||Acts|19:35|KJV}}</ref> There are reports that a sacred stone was enshrined at the temple that may have been a meteorite.

The [[Black Stone]] set into the wall of the [[Kaaba]] has often been presumed to be a meteorite, but the little available evidence for this is inconclusive.<ref>[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1980Metic..15...87T ''New Light on the Origin of the Holy Black Stone of the Ka'ba''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401101926/http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1980Metic..15...87T |date=1 April 2017 }}. Author: Thomsen, E. Journal: Meteoritics, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 87</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Prescott | first1 = J.R. | last2 = Robertson | first2 = G.B. | last3 = Shoemaker | first3 = C. | last4 = Shoemaker | first4 = E.M. | last5 = Wynn | first5 = J. | year = 2004 | title = Luminescence dating of the Wabar meteorite craters, Saudi Arabia | journal = Journal of Geophysical Research | volume = 109 | issue = E1| page = E01008 | doi = 10.1029/2003JE002136 | bibcode=2004JGRE..109.1008P| doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Catalogue of meteorites: with special reference to those represented in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London|volume=1|page=263|editor=Grady, Monica M.|author1=Grady, Monica M.|author2=Graham, A.L.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-521-66303-8}}</ref>

Some Native Americans treated meteorites as ceremonial objects. In 1915, a {{convert|135|lb|adj=on|order=flip}} iron meteorite was found in a [[Sinagua]] (c. 1100–1200 AD) burial cyst near [[Camp Verde, Arizona]], respectfully wrapped in a feather cloth.<ref name="Nininger">H. H. Nininger, 1972, ''Find a Falling Star'' (autobiography), New York, Paul S. Erikson.</ref> A small pallasite was found in a pottery jar in an old burial found at [[Pojoaque Pueblo]], New Mexico. Nininger reports several other such instances, in the Southwest US and elsewhere, such as the discovery of Native American beads of [[meteoric iron]] found in Hopewell [[Tumulus|burial mounds]], and the discovery of the Winona meteorite in a Native American stone-walled crypt.<ref name="Nininger"/><ref>A. L. Christenson, J. W. Simmons' Account of the Discovery of the Winona Meteorite. ''Meteorite'' 10(3):14–16, 2004</ref>

===Historical writings===
In medieval China during the [[Song dynasty]], a meteorite strike event was recorded by [[Shen Kuo]] in 1064 AD near [[Changzhou]]. He reported "a loud noise that sounded like a thunder was heard in the sky; a giant star, almost like the moon, appeared in the southeast" and later finding the crater and the still-hot meteorite within, nearby.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Freeman|first=T. W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNMkCwAAQBAJ&q=Shen+Kuo+meteorite&pg=PT254|title=Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, Volume 11|date=2015-12-14|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4742-2653-0|language=it}}</ref>

Two of the oldest recorded meteorite falls in Europe are the [[Elbogen (meteorite)|Elbogen]] (1400) and [[Ensisheim (meteorite)|Ensisheim]] (1492) meteorites. The German physicist, [[Ernst Florens Chladni]], was the first to publish (in 1794) the idea that meteorites might be rocks that originated not from Earth, but from space.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Henry Smith|title=A history of science|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNEFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA168|volume=3|year=1904|publisher=Harper|pages=168ff|chapter=5|isbn=978-0-250-40142-0|url=https://archive.org/details/1976solarupdatef0000will/page/168|url-access=registration}}</ref> His booklet was ''"On the Origin of the Iron Masses Found by [[Peter Simon Pallas|Pallas]] and Others Similar to it, and on Some Associated Natural Phenomena"''.<ref>Chladni, Ernst Florens Friedrich, ''Über den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen und anderer ihr ähnlicher Eisenmassen und über einige damit in Verbindung stehende Naturerscheinungen'' [On the origin of the iron masses found by [[Peter Simon Pallas|Pallas]] and others similar to it, and on some natural phenomena associated with them] (Riga, Latvia: [[Johann Friedrich Hartknoch]], 1794). Available on-line at: [http://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/79533/5/ Saxon State and University Library at Dresden, Germany] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006151259/http://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/79533/5/ |date=6 October 2014 }}.</ref> In this he compiled all available data on several meteorite finds and falls concluded that they must have their origins in outer space. The scientific community of the time responded with resistance and mockery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meteorite.fr/en/basics/meteoritics.htm|title=History of Meteoritics – The Pallas Iron and E. F. Chladni|date=7 January 2009|publisher=The Earth's Memory|access-date=10 October 2009|archive-date=12 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012132026/http://www.meteorite.fr/en/basics/meteoritics.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> It took nearly ten years before a general acceptance of the origin of meteorites was achieved through the work of the French scientist [[Jean-Baptiste Biot]] and the British chemist, [[Edward Charles Howard|Edward Howard]].<ref>Edward Howard, John Lloyd Williams, and Count de Bournon (1802) "Experiments and observations on certain stony and metalline substances, which at different times are said to have fallen on the earth; also on various kinds of native iron," ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London'', '''92''' :  168–212.  Available on-line at:  [http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/92/168.full.pdf+html Royal Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406133829/http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/92/168.full.pdf+html |date=6 April 2016 }}</ref> Biot's study, initiated by the [[French Academy of Sciences]], was compelled by a fall of [[L'Aigle (meteorite)|thousands of meteorites]] on 26 April 1803 from the skies of L'Aigle, France.<ref>J.B. Biot (1803) [https://books.google.com/books?id=JPwTAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA3 ''Relation d'un voyage fait dans le département de l'Orne, pour constater la réalité d'un météore observé à l'Aigle le 26 floréal an 11''] (Account of a journey made in the department of the Orne [River], in order to ascertain the reality of a meteor observed in l'Aigle on the 26th of Floréal in the year 11) Note: The date "26 floréal" on the title page is a typographical error; the meteor shower actually occurred on '''6''' floréal (i.e., 26 April 1803) and everywhere else in the text the date "6 floréal" is given as the date of the meteor shower. (Paris, France: Baudouin, 1803).</ref><ref name=darlingIES>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Darling|first=David|title=L'Aigle meteorite shower|url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/L/L_Aigle.html|encyclopedia=The Internet Encyclopaedia of Science|access-date=27 April 2011|archive-date=14 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514040141/http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/L/L_Aigle.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=In Quest of the Solar System|year=2010|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning|isbn=978-0-7637-6629-0|page=294|author=Theo Koupelis}}</ref>

=== Striking people or property ===

Throughout history, many first- and second-hand reports speak of meteorites killing humans and other animals. One example is from 1490 AD in China, which purportedly killed thousands of people.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Human Casualties in Impact Events|last=Gritzner|first=C.|date=October 1997|pages=222–6|journal=WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization|volume=25|bibcode=1997JIMO...25..222G}}</ref> John Lewis has compiled some of these reports, and summarizes, "No one in recorded history has ever been killed by a meteorite in the presence of a meteoriticist and a medical doctor" and "reviewers who make sweeping negative conclusions usually do not cite any of the primary publications in which the eyewitnesses describe their experiences, and give no evidence of having read them".<ref>''Rain of Iron and Ice'' by John Lewis, 1997, {{ISBN|978-0-201-15494-8}}, pp. 162–163.</ref>

Modern reports of meteorite strikes include:
*In 1954 in [[Sylacauga, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://imca.repetti.net/metinfo/metstruck.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070128190630/http://imca.repetti.net/metinfo/metstruck.html |archive-date=2007-01-28 |title=Meteorite Targets: Keep Watching the Skies! |publisher= repetti.net |access-date=4 May 2013}}</ref> A {{Convert|4|kg|adj=on}} stone chondrite,<ref>[http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat//detail.dsml?Key=S4530&index= Natural History Museum Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311025321/http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat/detail.dsml?Key=S4530&index= |date=11 March 2007 }}. Internt.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref> the [[Hodges meteorite]] or Sylacauga meteorite, crashed through a roof and injured an occupant.
*An approximately {{Convert|3|g|oz|adj=on}} fragment of the Mbale meteorite fall from [[Uganda]] struck a youth, causing no injury.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jenniskens|first=Peter|title=The Mbale Meteorite Shower|volume=29|issue=2|journal=Meteoritics|pages=246–254 |bibcode=1994Metic..29..246J |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1994.tb00678.x|year=1994}}</ref>
*In October 2021 a meteorite penetrated the roof of a house in [[Golden, British Columbia]] landing on an occupant's bed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/meteorite-crashes-into-womans-bedroom-golden-bc-1.6207904|title=Woman rocked awake by meteorite chunk crashing into her bedroom|access-date=12 October 2021|archive-date=12 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012215609/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/meteorite-crashes-into-womans-bedroom-golden-bc-1.6207904|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Notable examples==
{{see also|List of largest meteorites on Earth}}

===Naming===
Meteorites are always named for the places they were found, where practical, usually a nearby town or geographic feature. In cases where many meteorites were found in one place, the name may be followed by a number or letter (e.g., Allan Hills 84001 or Dimmitt (b)). The name designated by the [[Meteoritical Society]] is used by scientists, catalogers, and most collectors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/docs/nc-guidelines.pdf|title=Guidelines for Meteorite Nomenclature|last=The Meteoritical Society|first=Committee on Meteorite Nomenclature|date=March 2019|access-date=2020-02-16|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918033851/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/docs/nc-guidelines.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Terrestrial===
{{div col |colwidth=36em}}
*[[Allende meteorite|Allende]] – largest known [[carbonaceous chondrite]] ([[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], Mexico, 1969).
*[[Allan Hills A81005]] – First meteorite determined to be of [[lunar meteorite|lunar origin]].
*[[ALH84001|Allan Hills 84001]] – [[Mars meteorite]] that was claimed to prove the existence of life on [[Mars]].
* The [[Bacubirito Meteorite]] (Meteorito de Bacubirito) – A meteorite estimated to weigh {{Convert|20|-|30|ST}}.
*[[Campo del Cielo]] – a group of iron meteorites associated with a crater field (of the same name) of at least 26 craters in West [[Chaco Province]], Argentina. The total weight of meteorites recovered exceeds 100 tonnes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Campo del Cielo|url=http://www.sun.org/meteorites/encyclopedia/campo-del-cielo|access-date=28 August 2014|archive-date=3 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903075654/http://www.sun.org/meteorites/encyclopedia/campo-del-cielo|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Canyon Diablo meteorite|Canyon Diablo]] – Associated with [[Meteor Crater]] in Arizona.
*[[Cape York meteorite|Cape York]] – One of the largest meteorites in the world. A 34-ton fragment called "Ahnighito", is exhibited at the [[American Museum of Natural History]]; the largest meteorite on exhibit in any museum.
*[[Gibeon (meteorite)|Gibeon]] – A large Iron meteorite in [[Namibia]], created the largest known strewn field.
*[[Hoba meteorite|Hoba]] – The largest known intact meteorite.
*[[Kaidun meteorite|Kaidun]] – An unusual [[carbonaceous chondrite]].
*[[Mbosi meteorite]] – A 16-metric-ton ungrouped iron meteorite in Tanzania.
*[[Murchison meteorite|Murchison]] – A carbonaceous chondrite found to contain [[nucleobase]]s – the building block of life.
*[[Nōgata meteorite|Nōgata]] – The oldest meteorite whose fall can be dated precisely (to 19 May 861, at [[Nōgata, Fukuoka|Nōgata]])<ref>{{Citation
 | first = Ursula B.
 | last = Marvin
 | editor-last = McCall
 | editor-first = G. J. H.
 | editor2-last = Bowden
 | editor2-first = A. J.
 | editor3-last = Howarth
 | editor3-first = R. J.
 | contribution = Meteorites in history: an overview from the Renaissance to the 20th century
 | title = The History of Meteoritics and Key Meteorite Collections: Fireballs, Falls and Finds
 | page = 16
 | year = 2006
 | place = London
 | publisher = The Geological Society
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvtVoa1W-cC&q=nogata+meteorite&pg=PA16
 | isbn = 978-1-86239-194-9 }}</ref>
*[[Orgueil (meteorite)|Orgueil]] – A famous meteorite due to its especially primitive nature and high presolar grain content.
*[[Sikhote-Alin Meteorite|Sikhote-Alin]] – Massive iron meteorite [[impact event]] that occurred on 12 February 1947.
*[[Tucson Ring meteorite|Tucson Ring]] – Ring shaped meteorite, used by a blacksmith as an anvil, in Tucson AZ. Currently at the Smithsonian.<ref>{{Citation
 | first1 = Roy S. Jr.
 | last1 = Clarke
 | first2 = Howard
 | last2 = Plotkin
 | first3 = Timothy
 | last3 = McCoy
 | editor-last = McCall
 | editor-first = G. J. H.
 | editor2-last = Bowden
 | editor2-first = A. J.
 | editor3-last = Bowden
 | editor3-first = R. J.
 | contribution = Meteorites and the Smithsonian Institution
 | title =  The History of Meteoritics and Key Meteorite Collections: Fireballs, Falls and Finds
 | page = 241
 | year = 2006
 | place = London
 | publisher = The Geological Society
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvtVoa1W-cC&q=nogata+meteorite&pg=PA16
 | isbn = 978-1-86239-194-9 }}</ref>
*[[Willamette Meteorite|Willamette]] – The largest meteorite ever found in the United States.
* [[2007 Carancas impact event]] – On 15 September 2007, a stony meteorite that may have weighed as much as 4000 kilograms created a crater 13 meters in diameter near the village of Carancas, [[Peru]].<ref>{{cite journal | author=J. Borovicka and P. Spurný | title=The Carancas meteorite impact – Encounter with a monolithic meteoroid | journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics | year=2008 | volume=485 | issue=2 | pages=L1–L4 |doi=10.1051/0004-6361:200809905 | bibcode=2008A&A...485L...1B| last2=Spurný | doi-access=free }}</ref>
* [[2013 Russian meteor event]] – a 17-metre diameter, 10 000 ton<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-061 | author=JPL | title=Russia Meteor Not Linked to Asteroid Flyby | website=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] | date=16 February 2012 | access-date=19 February 2013 | archive-date=16 March 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316131458/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-061 | url-status=live }}</ref> asteroid hit the atmosphere above [[Chelyabinsk]], Russia at 18&nbsp;km/s around 09:20 local time (03:20 UTC) 15 February 2013, producing a very bright [[superbolide|fireball]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003400/CBET003423.txt | publisher=International Astronomical Union | title=CBET 3423: Trajectory and Orbit of the Chelyabinsk Superbolide | work=Astronomical Telegrams | date=23 February 2013 }}{{dead link|date=August 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} [http://www.webalice.it/mizar02/articoli/Meteorb.dat Alt URL]{{registration required}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423104342/http://www.webalice.it/mizar02/articoli/Meteorb.dat |date=23 April 2013 }}</ref> in the morning sky. A number of small meteorite fragments have since been found nearby.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21494963 | author=BBC | title=Meteorite fragments found in Russia's Urals region | date=18 February 2012 | access-date=19 February 2013 | publisher=BBC News | archive-date=24 February 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224104943/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21494963 | url-status=live }}</ref>
{{div col end}}

===Extraterrestrial===
{{div col |colwidth=36em}}
*[[Bench Crater meteorite]] ([[Apollo 12]], 1969) and the [[Hadley Rille meteorite]] ([[Apollo 15]], 1971) − Fragments of asteroids were found among the samples collected on the Moon.<ref>[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=&sfor=names&stype=contains&country=Moon Meteoritical Bulletin Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603075700/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=&sfor=names&stype=contains&country=Moon |date=3 June 2013 }}. Lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref>
*[[Block Island meteorite]] and [[Heat Shield Rock]] – Discovered on [[Mars]] by [[Opportunity rover]] among four other iron meteorites.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ashley |first=J. W. |title=Evidence for mechanical and chemical alteration of iron-nickel meteorites on Mars: Process insights for Meridiani Planum |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets |date=July 2011 |volume=116 |issue=E7 |page=E00F20 |doi=10.1029/2010JE003672 |display-authors=etal |bibcode=2011JGRE..116.0F20A|hdl=1893/17110 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Two nickel-iron meteorites were identified by the [[Spirit rover]]. (See also: [[List of rocks on Mars]])
{{div col end}}

===Large impact craters===
{{See also|List of impact craters on Earth}}
{{div col|colwidth=36em}}
* [[Acraman crater]] in South Australia ({{Convert|90|km}} diameter)
* [[Ames crater]] in [[Major County, Oklahoma]] {{convert|16|km|mi}} diameter
* [[Brent crater]] in northern Ontario ({{Convert|3.8|km}} diameter)
* [[Chesapeake Bay impact crater]] ({{Convert|90|km}} diameter)
* [[Chicxulub crater]] off the coast of [[Yucatán Peninsula]] ({{Convert|170|km}} diameter)
* [[Clearwater Lakes]] a double crater impact in Québec, Canada ({{Convert|26|and|36|km}} in diameter)
* [[Lonar crater]] in India ({{Convert|1.83|km}} diameter)
* [[Lumparn]] in [[Åland]], in the Baltic Sea ({{Convert|9|km}} diameter)
* [[Manicouagan Reservoir]] in Québec, Canada ({{Convert|100|km}} diameter)
* [[Manson crater]] in Iowa ({{Convert|38|km}} crater is buried)
* [[Meteor Crater]] in Arizona, also known as "Barringer Crater", the first confirmed terrestrial impact crater. ({{Convert|1.2|km}} diameter)
* [[Mjølnir impact crater]] in the [[Barents Sea]] ({{Convert|40|km}} diameter)
* [[Nördlinger Ries]] crater in Bavaria, Germany ({{Convert|25|km}} diameter)
* [[Popigai impact structure]] in Russia ({{Convert|100|km}} diameter)
* [[Siljan Ring]] in Sweden, largest crater in Europe ({{Convert|52|km}} diameter)
* [[Sudbury Basin]] in Ontario, Canada ({{Convert|250|km}} diameter).
* [[Ungava Bay]] in Québec, Canada ({{Convert|260|by|320|km}})
* [[Vredefort impact structure]] in South Africa, the largest known impact structure on Earth ({{Convert|300|km}} diameter from an estimated {{Convert|10|km}} wide meteorite).
{{div col end}}

===Disintegrating meteoroids===
* [[Tunguska event]] in [[Siberia]] 1908 (no crater)
* [[2013 Russian meteor event|Chelyabinsk event]] in Russia 2013 (no known crater)

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Atmospheric focusing]]
*[[Barringer Medal]]
* [[Glossary of meteoritics]]
* [[List of impact craters on Earth]]
* [[List of Martian meteorites]]
* [[List of meteorite minerals]]
* [[List of rocks on Mars]]
* [[List of possible impact structures on Earth]]
* [[List of individual rocks]]
* [[Meteor shower]]
* [[Meteorite find]]
* [[Meteoroid]]
* [[Micrometeorite]]
* [[Panspermia]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|wikt=meteorite|v=Meteorites|q=no}} 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060708062414/http://www.meteorite.com/news/index.htm Current meteorite news articles]
* [http://www.bimsociety.org The British and Irish Meteorite Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210324071353/http://www.bimsociety.org/ |date=24 March 2021 }}
* [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/metcat/ The Natural History Museum's meteorite catalogue database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080717075933/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/metcat/ |date=17 July 2008 }}
* [http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/ Meteoritical Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415190137/http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/ |date=15 April 2018 }}
* [https://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/ Earth Impact Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212233103/http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/ |date=12 February 2010 }} 
*[http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/registered-meteorite-impacts Every Recorded Meteorite Impact on Earth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314000229/http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/registered-meteorite-impacts |date=14 March 2014 }} from [[Tableau Software]]
*[http://www.thespacecollective.com/blog/meteor-impact-craters/ Meteor Impact Craters Around the World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515072824/http://www.thespacecollective.com/blog/meteor-impact-craters/ |date=15 May 2021 }}
* [https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/identification/ Identifying meteorites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324151530/https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/identification/ |date=24 March 2024 }} from the [[Washington University in St. Louis]]
* {{cite book |author = Graham, A. L.; Bevan, A.W.R.; Hutchison, R. |edition = 4th |title= Catalogue of Meteorites: with special reference to those represented in the British Museum (Natural History) |year= 1985 |url= https://archive.org/details/catalogueofmeteo0000grah/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access= registration |place= Tucson, Arizona |publisher= University of Arizona Press |accessdate= 20 April 2024 |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}

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