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The 60-tonne, 2.7 m-long (8.9 ft) Hoba meteorite in Namibia is the largest known intact meteorite.[1]A meteorite is a rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or moon.
Impactite is rock created or modified by one or more impacts of a meteorite. [1] [2] Impactites are considered metamorphic rock, because their source materials were modified by the heat and pressure of the impact. [3] On Earth, impactites consist primarily of modified terrestrial material, sometimes with pieces of the original meteorite. [3]
Pallasites are a rare type of meteorite. Only 61 are known to date, including 10 from Antarctica, with four being observed falls. [9] [10] The following four falls are in chronological order: Mineo, Sicily, Italy. A luminous meteor was observed and an object seen to fall with a loud roar in May 1826. Only 46 grams (1.6 oz) are preserved in ...
The space rock that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period caused a global calamity that doomed the dinosaurs and many other life forms. Researchers assessed ...
When a gargantuan space rock, estimated to be the size of four Mount Everests, crashed into Earth more than 3 billion years ago, many may assume that it would have wreaked havoc on a young planet. ...
Fossil meteorite – a meteorite that was buried under layers of sediment before the start of the Quaternary period. Some or all of the original cosmic material has been replaced by diagenetic minerals. [3]: 320 (It is, however, not a fossil). Fusion crust – a coating on meteorites that forms during their passage through the atmosphere.
Stony-iron meteorites or siderolites are meteorites that consist of nearly equal parts of meteoric iron and silicates. This distinguishes them from the stony meteorites, that are mostly silicates, and the iron meteorites, that are mostly meteoric iron. [1] Stony-iron meteorites are all differentiated, meaning that they show signs of alteration.
When a meteorite with the mass of four Mount Everests hit Earth 3.2 billion years ago, it caused global chaos and provided an unexpected silver lining for life.