The materials that the meteorites are made from are part of the inside and surfaces of asteroids and are the building blocks of the planets. The materials that they are made up of give scientists information about processes and conditions involved in the history of our solar system. Meteorites are thought to be a key to how the planets and our solar system was formed many billions of years ago.
If more than one meteorite was found in a single location, each would have a designation number. They established a method of naming meteorites by using the name of the place that it was found. The Meteoritical Society is an organization that assists in all knowledge regarding meteors and meteorites. Scientists also compare what the meteorite is made up of to see what classification it falls into and possibly its age. The first is estimating where a meteorite has fallen so that they can calculate its orbit and reverse calculate its path back to the asteroid belt. The origins of meteorites can be estimated by scientists based on a few guidelines. They are often the size of a pebble to the size of a fist and is the reason why they are so difficult to find. Those that survive the atmosphere leave less than 5% of the original size as it hits the surface. Meteors travel at tens of thousands of miles per hour and those that are smaller than a football field will be broken apart and burn up in the atmosphere of Earth. Scientists have estimated that around 48.5 tons/44,000 kg of meteoritic debris fall on our Earth every day. When meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere they can burn so brightly that they are brighter than the planet Venus. While this is the majority, there are some small pieces that scientists believe arrived from Venus or Mercury, but they haven’t been confirmed. The meteorites that have been found are usually from asteroids that have been shattered in collisions.
However, anything that survives the hot burning trip and actually lands on Earth’s (or another planet’s) surface is called a meteorite. Once they enter the atmosphere, the objects are called meteors. Scientists like to think of them as a kind of “space rock” and when they get too close to our Earth they are caught with gravity and most burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. Those that exist in orbit are called meteoroids.
These objects exist in all different sizes and shapes, from the tiniest grains of dust to the size of small asteroids. Many civilizations looked to the sky to see the “shooting stars” and believed that they were messages of doom from their gods. Humanity has been observing meteors for thousands of years.
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