Collect meteorites and unlock
the mysteries of space!
Many meteroites, hiding the mysteries of the universe, have fallen on the Earth.
Let's collect hidden meteorites from around the world
and compare the differences in shape and composition!
Most meteorites that fall to Earth are stony meteorites, which are made of rocks formed of silicate minerals. Meteorites that contain round grains 0.1 to 10 mm in diameter (chondrules) are called chondrites, and the ones that don't have these grains are called achondrites.
- NWA 869, a stony meteorite that was found in the Sahara desert (cross section)
- NWA 869 meteorite grains under an electron microscope (600×)
These meteorites are mainly made of metal (iron-nickel alloy). Iron meteorites have a special metal crystal structure formed when the material was subjected to powerful impacts and then slowly cooled, something which could not have occurred on Earth. Some of the meteorites have banded triangular and parallelogram-shaped patterns (Widmanstätten structures) when polished.
- Gibeon meteorite (cross section)
- Gibeon meteorite electron-microscope image (600×)
Stony-iron meteorites are a mixture of rock (silicate minerals) and metal (iron-nickel alloy).
Very few stony-iron meteorites have been discovered on Earth compared to stony meteorites and iron meteorites.
- Seymchan meteorite discovered in Russia (cross section)
- Seymchan meteorite electron-microscope image (600×)
These meteorites come from Mars and fly through space before falling to Earth.
They are believed to be fragments of Mars that were thrown out into space when the planet was hit by other objects.
- Dhofar 019, a Martian meteorite discovered in 2000 in Oman (cross section)
- Martian meteorite electron-microscope image (600×)
These meteorites come from the Moon and travel through space before falling to Earth. They are believed to be fragments of the Moon that were launched into space when the Moon was hit by other objects.
- Dhofar 461, a Moon meteorite discovered in 2001 in Oman (cross section)
- Moon meteorite electron-microscope image (600×)
Within the category of stony meteorites, we call meteorites that contain a lot of organic matter such as water and carbohydrates "carbonaceous chondrites." They may be the key to understanding the mystery of how life originated.
- The Allende meteorite, which fell in Mexico in 1969
- Allende meteorite electron-microscope image (600×)
