meteorite
 
Meteorites


Source: World-wide. Perhaps the best places that scientists look for meteorites is in the Arctic regions covered in snow. About the only way a rock is going to be out on top of the snow cover is if it fell out of the sky. Which is indeed how they get there. So many expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions are for the collection of meteorites.

Chemical: A wide variety possible. The one shown above is an iron meteorite that was once inside the core of a star and was blown out into the cosmos for a few eons of time until it landed in Siberia in the 192-'s. Others are stony and were probably once a part of the asteroid belt where scientists believe that a planet blew up scattering the stones throughout the solar system. Of note to this concept: it should be noted that many stony meteorites contain a high level of olivene group minerals, and some have been found to have peridot crystals in, and on, them. So there is much to the story about meteorite origins that we can hope to learn in the near future. (some scientists have even theorized that some will contain diamonds....). And a handful have come to earth from Mars are have been reported to contain fossilized bacteria. Who know???

Crystal System: None.

Formation: Literally out of this world.

Properties: Any number of possibilities. The iron meteorites will have smooth edges as shown above while the stony meteorites will have any combination. The largest meteor crater in the United States if the Meteor Crater in Arizona, which is not to be missed if you are going through that area.


Back to Mineral Index Page

Back to Home Page

© Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved. Please read the fine print below:

The information contained in this website is offered free of charge to anyone wishing to learn more about gemology. The information may be downloaded by any student, consumer, or jeweler for your own personal study and use. None of this site can be downloaded for posting on another website or server for any reason. It will be a violation of the copyright for anyone to copy, duplicate, distribute, and/or re-print this material in any format or any medium without written permission. Nor can anyone post this information on a for-profit website without written permission. That will ruin it for everyone and cause the entire site to be erased and canceled. Please honor this copyright for the good of everyone else.