Stony meteorite
A stony meteorite is one made mostly of rocky minerals, with little or no metal.
Meteorites come in three main kinds: stones, irons and stony-irons. Stony meteorites are made mostly of rock-forming minerals such as olivine and pyroxene, which are also common in Earth rocks. They are by far the most common kind to fall: more than nine out of every ten meteorites seen to fall are stones.
There are two big families of stones. Chondrites contain tiny round grains called chondrules and have hardly changed since the Solar System formed. Achondrites have been melted, a bit like volcanic rocks, and some come from large asteroids, the Moon or Mars. Britain's largest recorded meteorite fall, at Barwell in Leicestershire on Christmas Eve 1965, was a stony meteorite; around 44 kilograms of pieces were collected.
Stony meteorites can be tricky to spot, because they look a lot like ordinary rocks, especially once they have weathered. Clues include a thin black crust, a weight a little heavier than expected, and, in many of them, small specks of shiny metal on a broken face. Always let an expert check, and never break a suspected meteorite open yourself.
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Level: Beginner Ages 7 and up