Where do meteorites come from?
A meteorite is a rock from space that lands on Earth. But where in space?
Between the planets Mars and Jupiter, there is a wide ring of space rocks going around the Sun. It is called the asteroid belt.
The rocks are called asteroids. Some are as small as a pebble. The biggest, Ceres, is nearly 1,000 kilometres across.
Sometimes two asteroids bump into each other. Pieces break off. Over a very long time, some of those pieces are nudged onto new paths that cross Earth's path.
If a piece meets Earth, it rushes through the air and glows as a fireball. Most of it burns away. If some survives and lands on the ground, we call it a meteorite.
Almost all meteorites come from asteroids. A few very special ones come from the Moon or from Mars. They were knocked off by big crashes long ago, and drifted through space until they reached us.
Meteorites are named after the place where they landed or were found, such as Winchcombe in England.