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In meteoritics, a meteorite classification system attempts to group similar meteorites and allows scientists to communicate with a standardized terminology when discussing them. Meteorites are classified according to a variety of characteristics, especially mineralogical , petrological , chemical , and isotopic properties.
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.
Fall – a meteorite that was seen while it fell to Earth and found. Find – a meteorite that was found without seeing it fall. 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 Some or all of the original cosmic material has been replaced by diagenetic minerals.
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.
This is a list of largest meteorites on Earth. Size can be assessed by the largest fragment of a given meteorite or the total amount of material coming from the same meteorite fall: often a single meteoroid during atmospheric entry tends to fragment into more pieces. The table lists the largest meteorites found on the Earth's surface.
The meteorites have been described as "tuff" (compacted volcanic ash). [147] [29] As one example, the Tagish Lake meteorite provided ~10 kg of samples, from a meteor estimated to be 60–90 tons before entry. [148] By contrast, many ordinary chondrite meteorites are tougher [149] and overrepresented. [150] Iron meteorites are even moreso. [151]
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 ...
Non-metallic meteorites that lack chondrules are achondrites, which are believed to have formed more recently than chondrites. [5] There are currently over 27,000 chondrites in the world's collections. The largest individual stone ever recovered, weighing 1770 kg, was part of the Jilin meteorite shower of 1976. Chondrite falls range from single ...