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A meteorite is a portion of a meteoroid or asteroid that survives its passage through the atmosphere and hits the ground without being destroyed. [77] Meteorites are sometimes, but not always, found in association with hypervelocity impact craters; during energetic collisions, the entire impactor may be vaporized, leaving no meteorites.
Meteorite classification may indicate that a "genetic" relationship exists between similar meteorite specimens. Similarly classified meteorites may share a common origin, and therefore may come from the same astronomical object (such as a planet, asteroid, or moon) known as a parent body. However, with current scientific knowledge, these types ...
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. [2] Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transit the atmosphere and impact Earth are called meteorite falls.
Unlike most meteor showers, the Quadrantid meteor shower doesn't originate from a comet, but from an asteroid. For many years, the origin of the Quadrantids remained unknown. Though the ...
Metallic core formation and cooling can be dated by applying the 187 Re/ 187 Os method to iron meteorites. [12] [13] Large scale impact events or even the destruction of the parent body can be dated using the 39 Ar/ 40 Ar method and the 244 Pu fission track method. [14] After breakup of the parent body meteoroids are exposed to cosmic radiation.
The dominance of carbonaceous chondrite-like MMs and their low abundance in meteorite collections suggests that most MMs derive from sources different from those of most meteorites. Since most meteorites derive from asteroids, an alternative source for MMs might be comets. The idea that MMs might originate from comets originated in 1950. [4]
A meteorite fall, also called an observed fall, is a meteorite collected after its fall from outer space was observed by people or automated devices. Any other meteorite is called a " find ". [ 1 ] [ 2 ] There are more than 1,300 documented falls listed in widely used databases, [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] most of which have specimens in modern collections.
Those resulting fireballs, better known as "shooting stars," are meteors. If meteoroids survive their trip to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere, they are called meteorites, NASA says.