Meteorite

A meteorite is a relatively small extraterrestrial material body that reaches the Earth's surface. While in space these bodies are called meteoroids. Upon entering the atmosphere air drag and friction will cause the body to heat up, emitting light, thus forming a meteor, fireball, or shooting star.

Most meteors disintegrate in the air, making impact events (Earth impacts) on the surface of Earth uncommon. About 500 baseball sized rocks a year reach the surface. Large meteorites may strike the ground with considerable force, leaving behind a meteor crater. The kind of crater will depend on the size, composition, degree of fragmentation, and incoming angle of the meteor. The force of collision with Earth's surface may cause widespread destruction. Occasional damage to property, livestock and even people has been recorded in historic times. In the case of comet fragments, which are largely composed of ice, a considerable concussion may occur even though no fragment of the original meteoroid survives; the famed Tunguska event is thought to result from such an incident.

79% of meteorites are Chondrites - balls of mafic minerals with small grain size indicative of rapid cooling. Chondrites are typically about 4.6 million years old and are thought to represent material from the asteroid belt. It is unclear how they formed. Carbonaceous Chondrites constitute about 5% of meteorites and contain small amounts of organic materials including amino acids. The isotope ratios of Carbonaceous Chondrites are similar to those of the sun. Carbonaceous chondrites are thought to be unaltered solar nebula material.

Achondrites are similar to terrestrial mafic igneous rocks and sometimes are brecciated. Achondrites are about 8% of the incoming material and are thought to represent crustal material of larger asteroids. About 6% of meteorites are Iron meteorites with intergrowths of iron-nickel alloys, such as kamacite. Unlike chondrites, the crystals are large and appear to represent slow crystallization. Iron meteorites are thought to be the core material of one or more planets that subsequently broke up. Stony iron meteorites constitute the remaining 2%. They are a mixture of iron-nickel and silicate minerals. They are thought to have originated in the boundary zone above the core regions where Iron meteorites originated. A small number of meteorites to belong to additional groups or subgroups with unique chemical characteristics relative to other members of the larger groups. For example, Lunar meteorites or Martian meteorites.

One theory stipulates that a large meteorite impact caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.

See Siljan and other notable meteorite impacts. See comet, asteroid, Leonids, Geminids and solar system for more information on extraterrestrial bodies.