Meteorites Facts

Meteorites are rocks from space, which land on Earth, attracted by her gravity. The shooting stars that you see at night, are actually burning meteors that fall on Earth from outer space! This is the first of many interesting meteorites facts that are going to follow. Why do meteorites fall? For the same reason why anything falls on Earth - 'Gravity'. Very few can escape it!

Meteorites have their origin in outer space. They are relatively small pieces of dust and debris, usually left behind in the wake of a comet. Meteorites, that are huge in size, have their origin in space, as asteroids. They are left over pieces of matter from formation of the solar system, which could not clump together to form a planet like our Earth. There is a dense belt of such asteroids outside the orbit of the planet Mars, called the 'Asteroid Belt'. Asteroids are huge in size and their lengths can number to kilometers!

Once in a while, small pieces of rock or dust, come into range of Earth's gravitational pull and fall on Earth as shooting stars. An asteroid dislodged from its trajectory and falling on Earth is also called a meteorite. However, an asteroid being huge in size, causes a cataclysmic explosion on Earth on impact! Lets begin our exploration of meteorites facts now.

Meteor Facts: Origin

Meteor facts and meteorites facts are interchangeable terms and we shall see why they are so. When these rocks and pieces of dust are floating in space, they are called 'Meteoroids'. When they make a blazing entry into Earth's atmosphere, they are called 'Meteors'. Finally, if they survive the burning entry into Earth's atmosphere and fall on Earth, they are called 'Meteorites'. So a meteorite could originate from comet debris called meteoroids or larger objects called asteroids! Here are some basic facts about meteorites, meteors and meteoroids.

• Comets leave tons of dust and debris in their trail as they travel along long orbits round the Sun. When Earth, while revolving around the Sun, passes through some patches of this comet debris, it enters the Earth's atmosphere causing meteor showers!
• Meteor showers are periodic events. One can see thousand of meteors or shooting stars, as they are called, during such a shower. The most popular meteor showers are 'Perseids' (which peak around August 12) and Leonids (which peak around 17 November). During these showers, you can observe a shooting star at the rate of 1 meteor per minute on an average.
• A falling meteor can travel at speed of as much as 44 miles per second !
• One of the interesting meteorites facts is that they have some of the oldest rocks in the solar system among them. They could be older than the Earth and date from the period when Sun was forming!
• Every day, about 4 billion meteoroids fall on Earth! Majority of them are very tiny and therefore do not cause much harm.
• If a meteorite is observed while falling and recovered from the place of fall, its called a 'fall' meteorite. If a meteorite is not observed while falling, but found from any location, its called a 'find.'
• Till 2006, there have been roughly 1,050 witnessed falls while there are about 30,000 documented 'Finds'. For more on famous meteorite finds, read 'Famous Meteorites'.
• Falling meteors which are large in size, can create an intense electromagnetic pulse, which temporarily disrupt radio communication in the region of fall! With a properly designed radio antenna, you can actually 'hear' meteorites falling as radio noise.

Meteorites Facts: Types and Composition

Here are some meteorites facts about their types and composition, that you should know about.

• Recovered meteorites are classified into three main categories which are 'Chrondites' (Make about 86% of all recovered meteorites), 'Achrondites' (8%) and 'Iron' meteorites (6 %).
• The name 'Chrondites' comes from features called 'Chrondules', which are melted silicate materials from their past. Chrondites are about 4.55 billion years old and are the types of rocks from which our own planet formed!
• Certain chrondite meteorites fallen from outer space contain traces of amino acids and organic matter, bolstering the theory that life may have been planted on Earth! This is one of the most astounding meteorites facts.
• Achronidtes are relatively younger meteorites of the igneous rock type and are pieces of asteroids, the Moon and Mars!
• Iron meteorites are composed of iron-nickel alloys and silicate materials. They are also thought to be pieces of asteroids!

Every one of these meteor facts or meteorites facts are intriguing. Earth has been pounded by the impact of many meteorites, ranging from the very tiny to gigantic meteorites. The meteorites impact craters that are found on earth are testimony to this. It is time for the last of our meteorites facts. One gigantic meteorite impact occurred millions of years ago on Earth which brought on the extinction of dinosaurs!

One question that may come to your mind is, 'Where do meteorites fall?'. They could fall anywhere on Earth. Meteors have been found all over the world. The recent findings have been mostly in Africa and accessible parts of Antarctica. If you could find one, you are bound to be rich as private collectors and museums pay millions of dollars for them! The reason is that they are very rare and are made up of minerals, which are never found on Earth! So keep looking! You may never know, when one might pop out of the sky, making you rich. So its actually profitable to know some meteor facts! Hope that with these meteorites facts, I have succeeded in arousing your curiosity about Meteorites and meteor showers.