Topic

#Asteroids

The rocky bodies that most meteorites come from, and the missions that visit them.

Lessons (15)

Achondrites: rocks from melted worldsAchondrites are stony meteorites without chondrules. They come from worlds that melted, and many of them look surprisingly like volcanic roc
Asteroids: the parent bodiesMeteorites are samples of asteroids, and asteroids are leftovers from the building of the planets.
Carbonaceous chondritesCarbonaceous chondrites are rare, often dark and crumbly, and scientifically priceless.
Fireball networks: from sky to orbitWhen a fireball is filmed from several places at once, scientists can find where its meteorites landed and trace where they came from in spa
Iron meteorites and their hidden patternsIron meteorites are pieces of the metal cores of shattered asteroids. Cut one open and etch it, and many reveal a beautiful crystal pattern
Meteor showers and cometsMeteor showers are the most reliable shows in the night sky. They come from comets, and they teach us a lot about how meteors and meteorites
Delivery: from asteroid families to EarthWhich asteroids are our meteorites actually coming from? Dynamics, spectroscopy and exposure ages are converging on answers.
Meteorites from the Moon and MarsA few hundred meteorites are pieces of the Moon or Mars. How do we know, and what can they tell us?
Ordinary chondrites: H, L and LLRoughly four in every five meteorites seen to fall are ordinary chondrites. They are divided into three groups, H, L and LL, and learning to
Primitive achondrites and ureilitesBetween chondrites and fully melted achondrites lie rocks caught in the act of melting. They reveal how differentiation begins.
Sample return: ground truth for meteoriticsSamples collected directly from known bodies test the links that meteoriticists have proposed for decades, and reveal what meteorites alone
The NC–CC isotopic dichotomyNucleosynthetic isotope anomalies split meteorites into two great families that formed in separate regions of the disc.
Three kinds of meteoriteMeteorites come in three big families: stony, iron and stony-iron. Each one tells a different story about the asteroid it came from.
What is a meteorite?A meteorite is a piece of rock or metal from space that has fallen all the way to the ground.
Where do meteorites come from?Meteorites are visitors from far away. Most come from a ring of rocks called the asteroid belt, and a few come from the Moon and Mars.

Courses (30)

Orbits, Kepler's laws and resonancesKepler's third law connects an asteroid's distance from the Sun to its orbital period.
Shock, craters and deflecting an asteroidHypervelocity impacts generate shock pressures that transform minerals. This final lesson connects shock metamorphism, crater evidence and t
Spectroscopy: matching meteorites to asteroidsSunlight reflected from an asteroid carries the absorption fingerprints of its minerals.
A-level: The physics and chemistry of meteoritesTwelve lessons that apply A-level physics, chemistry and geology to meteorites: gravitational fields and Kepler's laws, impact and entry
Dating meteoritesA meteorite has several ages: when it formed, when it was broken off its parent body, and how long it has been on Earth.
Fireballs, camera networks and recoveryModern camera networks can turn a few seconds of light into a meteorite in a museum within days. This lesson explains how, and how members o
The journey from the asteroid beltMost meteorites begin as fragments of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. This lesson follows the long, slow route that brings a few of them
Water and the ingredients of lifeSome meteorites carry water locked in minerals and a rich chemistry of carbon compounds, including amino acids and nucleobases.
What falls from the skyEvery day Earth sweeps up tonnes of material from space, almost all of it as dust. This lesson sets out the vocabulary and the scale of what
Worlds that meltedSome early asteroids melted and separated into core, mantle and crust, then were shattered.
Adult course: Meteorites from first principlesTwelve lessons for adult learners: where meteorites come from, how falls are tracked and recovered, how they are classified and dated, what
Earth's early atmosphere and oceansWhere did Earth's air and water come from? Volcanoes released gases, and meteorites show that asteroids may also have delivered water.
Extinction and the fossil recordExtinction can be caused by new predators, disease, competition or catastrophic events.
Forces and orbitsAsteroids, planets and meteoroids all move under gravity. This lesson applies Newton's laws and circular motion to orbits, and explains
Hazard, risk and planetary defenceSmall rocks hit Earth every day; large impacts are very rare. This final lesson uses ideas of risk, probability and uncertainty to judge the
How the Solar System formedThe Sun and planets formed from a cloud of gas and dust about 4.6 billion years ago.
Momentum: nudging an asteroidIn 2022 a spacecraft deliberately hit an asteroid moon to change its orbit. Momentum explains how a tiny spacecraft could move a body millio
The molecules of life from spaceSome meteorites contain amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, made without any living thing.
GCSE: Meteorites across the sciencesTwelve lessons that use meteorites to practise GCSE physics, chemistry and biology: the formation of the Solar System, isotopes and half-lif
Rocks from spaceSometimes a bigger space rock does not burn up. A piece lands on the ground. It is called a meteorite.
Our Solar System and where space rocks liveThe Sun, eight planets, their moons and millions of smaller bodies make up our Solar System.
The end of the dinosaursAbout 66 million years ago an asteroid struck Earth and helped end the age of the dinosaurs.
Three kinds of meteoriteScientists sort meteorites into three main kinds by what they are made of: stone, iron, or a mixture of both.
What is a meteorite?A meteorite is a piece of rock or metal from space that has landed on Earth. This lesson gives you the three words every space-rock scientis
Gravity, weight and orbitsGravity holds the Solar System together and decides where meteorites end up. In this lesson you will calculate weight on different worlds an
Inside a planet: cores, mantles and crustsNobody can drill to Earth's core, but meteorites let us hold pieces of the cores, mantles and crusts of other worlds.
Meteorites and the rock cycleGeologists sort Earth rocks into igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Meteorites can be described in the same way, which tells us what happ
Missions to asteroidsSpacecraft have now visited asteroids, brought back samples and even pushed one off course.
The small bodies of the Solar SystemBetween and beyond the planets are millions of asteroids and comets. This lesson sets out where they are, how far away they are and how a pi
Key Stage 3: Meteorites and the Solar SystemTwelve lessons for Years 7 to 9 that use meteorites to teach space physics, forces, density, energy, the rock cycle, elements and compounds,

Books (5)

Fireballs and Meteor ShowersMost meteors are grains smaller than rice, striking the air at 11 to 72 kilometres per second. This observer's guide explains the physic
Messengers from Mars, the Moon and VestaAbout one meteorite in a hundred is a piece of the Moon or Mars, and one fall in sixteen comes from the asteroid Vesta. This book shows how
Meteorites ExplainedThe oldest solids in meteorites formed 4,567 million years ago, before any planet. Meteorites Explained shows how scientists know: from the
Meteoritics for StudentsMeteorites are the oldest rocks we can hold, and reading them uses nuclear physics, chemistry, geology and orbital mechanics. This guide run
Space Rocks You Can TouchMost meteorites are 4,567 million years old, older than any rock on Earth. This book explains how a space rock crosses the atmosphere at up

Famous meteorites (26)

ALH 84001A potato-sized rock from Mars that sparked a worldwide debate about life beyond Earth.
Almahata SittaThe first asteroid spotted in space before it hit the Earth – and the meteorites later collected from the Sudanese desert.
BacubiritoA long, heavy iron from the mountains of north-western Mexico, now displayed at a science centre in Culiacán.
BarwellOn Christmas Eve 1965 a shower of stones fell on a Leicestershire village, the largest meteorite fall recorded in Britain.
ChelyabinskThe 2013 airburst over Russia that shattered thousands of windows and reminded the world that asteroid impacts still happen.
EnsisheimThe stone that fell on Alsace in 1492 is the oldest European meteorite with a known fall date that still survives.
EsthervilleIn 1879 a meteorite half metal and half stone crashed onto the Iowa prairie – a rare mesosiderite, still a puzzle to scientists.
Gao-GuenieA shower of stones over Burkina Faso in 1960 that became one of the most widely distributed meteorites in the world.
HobaThe heaviest known meteorite on Earth has never been moved from the spot where it landed.
JuvinasA single basaltic stone that fell in southern France in 1821 and helped show that some asteroids once had volcanoes.
KaidunA small stone that fell on a military base in Yemen in 1980 and turned out to be a jigsaw of many different worlds.
KapoetaA howardite that fell in South Sudan in 1942 – a piece of the battered surface of the asteroid Vesta.
MuonionalustaAn iron meteorite from Arctic Sweden that fell long before the last ice age – and was carried by glaciers before anyone found it.
MurchisonA stone that fell on an Australian town in 1969, packed with the chemical building blocks of life.
OrgueilA crumbly black meteorite from 1864 whose chemistry is the closest match on Earth to the Sun itself.
OzerkiA bright fireball over Russia in June 2018 that delivered fresh stones to villagers and scientists within days.
PeekskillThe 1992 fireball filmed by football fans across the eastern United States that ended up in the boot of a parked car.
SeymchanFound in a stream in Russia's Far East in 1967 and thought to be an ordinary iron – until pieces with gem-like crystals turned up decade
StannernA shower of basaltic stones that fell on Moravia in 1808 and gave its name to a distinctive kind of lava from Vesta.
Sutter's MillIn 2012 a rare carbon-rich meteorite fell on the very spot where the California Gold Rush began – and weather radar helped find it.
SylacaugaIn 1954 a meteorite crashed through a roof in Alabama and struck Ann Hodges – the first well-documented person hit by a meteorite.
Tagish LakeA fragile carbon-rich meteorite that fell onto a frozen Canadian lake in 2000 and was collected without being touched by bare hands.
TatahouineA meteorite that shattered into green crystals in the Tunisian desert in 1931 – a fragment from deep inside the asteroid Vesta.
The Tunguska eventIn 1908 a cosmic body exploded over Siberia and flattened some 80 million trees – the largest impact event in recorded history.
Vaca MuertaA mesosiderite scattered across the Atacama Desert, named after a 'dead cow' and found by prospectors in the 19th century.
WinchcombeThe 2021 fireball filmed across Britain that delivered the UK's first carbonaceous chondrite – onto a family's driveway.

Meteorite types (34)

AchondritesIgneous stones from bodies that melted: asteroids, the Moon and Mars. An achondrite is a stony meteorite without chondrules.
AngritesThe oldest volcanic rocks known, from a vanished early planetesimal. Named after Angra dos Reis in Brazil, which fell in 1869, angrites are
Asteroidal achondritesFully melted, differentiated rocks from the crusts and mantles of asteroids, Vesta above all.
AubritesPale, almost iron-free rocks made of enstatite, from an extremely oxygen-poor world.
BrachinitesOlivine-rich rocks from an asteroid whose melt drained away. Named after Brachina in South Australia, brachinites are made mostly of iron-ri
Carbonaceous chondritesRare, often dark chondrites rich in carbon, water-bearing minerals and organic compounds, including the building blocks of life.
ChondritesPrimitive stones that never melted, made of the first solids of the Solar System. The most common meteorites of all.
CI chondritesThe chemically most primitive rocks known: their make-up matches the Sun's. CI chondrites, named after Ivuna in Tanzania, match the comp
CK chondritesHeated, highly oxidised carbonaceous chondrites, cousins of the CVs. CK chondrites, named after Karoonda in Australia, are unusual among car
DiogenitesPyroxene-rich rocks from deep inside Vesta. Diogenites are coarse-grained rocks made mostly of orthopyroxene, sometimes with olivine.
EucritesVolcanic basalt from the crust of Vesta. Eucrites are basalts and gabbros from Vesta's crust, made mainly of pigeonite (a calcium-poor p
H chondritesHigh-iron ordinary chondrites: about a third of all meteorites seen to fall. H chondrites have the highest total iron of the ordinary chondr
HED meteorites: pieces of VestaThe howardites, eucrites and diogenites: crust and mantle rocks from the giant asteroid 4 Vesta. The meteorites this site is named after.
HowarditesBroken rubble from the surface of asteroid Vesta, mixing crust and mantle rocks. Howardites are regolith breccias: rocks made from the broke
IAB ironsIrons with stony inclusions, from a partly melted asteroid. Canyon Diablo and Campo del Cielo.
IC ironsA small magmatic group of coarse octahedrites, low in nickel. IC irons are a small group, mostly coarse octahedrites or coarser, with about
IIAB ironsHexahedrites and coarsest octahedrites, including Sikhote-Alin. The IIAB irons have the lowest nickel of the major groups, about 5.3–6.4%.
IID ironsFine to medium octahedrites rich in gallium and germanium. IID irons are fine to medium octahedrites with about 10–11% nickel and high galli
IIE ironsIrons full of silicate fragments, possibly from asteroid Hebe. IIE irons are octahedrites of varying coarseness that often contain silicate
IIF ironsA small group of magmatic irons. IIF is a small magmatic group of irons with distinctive trace-element patterns. Only a handful are known.
IIIAB ironsThe most common iron meteorites: medium octahedrites from one asteroid core. IIIAB is the largest group of irons, about a third of all irons
IIIE ironsCoarse octahedrites, separated from IIIAB by their chemistry. IIIE irons are coarse octahedrites with about 8–9% nickel.
IIIF ironsA small group with very low gallium and germanium. IIIF irons are medium to coarse octahedrites with about 7–8% nickel and very low gallium
Iron meteoritesAlmost pure iron-nickel metal, mostly from the cores of asteroids that melted and were later shattered.
IVA ironsFine octahedrites, including the famous Gibeon. IVA irons are fine octahedrites with about 7.5–9.5% nickel and very low gallium and germaniu
IVB ironsNickel-rich ataxites. Hoba, the largest meteorite, is one. IVB irons are ataxites with about 16% to 18% nickel and very high iridium.
L chondritesLow-iron ordinary chondrites: the single most common group of meteorites. L chondrites have less metal than H chondrites, typically 4% to 10
LL chondritesLow iron, low metal: the ordinary chondrites matched to asteroid Itokawa. LL chondrites have the least metal of the ordinary chondrites, onl
MesosideritesJumbled breccias of metal and basalt, made in a violent collision. Mesosiderites are breccias of roughly equal parts iron-nickel metal and s
Ordinary chondritesThe everyday meteorite: four in every five falls. Three groups, H, L and LL, from at least three asteroids.
Primitive achondritesRocks that began to melt but were never fully processed: halfway between chondrites and igneous rocks.
Stony-iron meteoritesRoughly equal parts metal and silicate. Rare, and among the most beautiful meteorites.
Ungrouped ironsIrons that fit no known group: each may represent its own asteroid. About 15% of iron meteorites do not belong to any recognised group.
UreilitesCarbon-rich rocks with diamonds, from an asteroid shattered by a giant impact. One was tracked in space before it hit Earth.

Space missions (22)

Chang'e 2A Moon mapper that went on to make China's first close flyby of an asteroid. Chang'e 2 was built as a backup for China's first M
DARTThe first test of moving an asteroid: a spacecraft deliberately crashed into a small moon.
DawnThe mission that confirmed the howardites, eucrites and diogenites come from the giant asteroid Vesta.
Deep Space 1The spacecraft that proved ion engines in deep space, then flew past a comet. Deep Space 1 was built to test new technology so that later mi
DESTINY+A planned flyby of the rocky asteroid that feeds the Geminid meteor shower. Most meteor showers come from comets: icy bodies that shed dust
GalileoThe first close look at an asteroid, and the discovery that asteroids can have moons.
HayabusaThe first asteroid sample ever returned, which proved where ordinary chondrites come from.
Hayabusa2Pieces of a carbon-rich asteroid that turned out to be the purest primitive rock ever studied. Hayabusa2 reached the asteroid Ryugu in June
HeraEurope's detective mission to study the asteroid moon that DART struck. DART showed that an asteroid can be nudged, but telescopes on Ea
LucyA twelve-year tour of the Trojan asteroids, possible fossils of planet formation. The Trojan asteroids travel around the Sun in two great sw
MBR ExplorerThe United Arab Emirates' planned tour of the asteroid belt, ending with a landing.
MMX (Martian Moons eXploration)Japan's mission to bring back the first sample from a moon of Mars. Mars has two small, dark moons, Phobos, about 22 kilometres across,
NEAR ShoemakerThe first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid, and the first to land on one. NEAR, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, was the first spa
NEO SurveyorA planned telescope built to find most of the near-Earth asteroids large enough to devastate a region.
NEOWISEAn infrared telescope that measured the sizes of tens of thousands of asteroids. WISE, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, was launched
OSIRIS-APEXThe OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, sent on to meet Apophis just after its close pass of Earth in 2029.
OSIRIS-RExThe largest asteroid sample ever returned, full of salts, water-formed minerals and life's building blocks.
PsycheThe first visit to a world rich in metal, which may be the exposed core of a shattered planet.
RAMSESA European mission planned to fly alongside Apophis as it passes close to Earth in 2029.
Rosetta and PhilaeThe first spacecraft to orbit a comet and to land on one. Rosetta spent ten years catching up with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
Tianwen-2China's mission to sample a tiny companion of Earth that may be a piece of the Moon.
Mission timeline213 milestones in the exploration of asteroids, comets, the Moon and Mars, from Luna and Apollo to Hayabusa2, OSIRIS-REx and Chang'e 6.

Meteorite minerals (7)

DolomiteA calcium magnesium carbonate common in CI chondrites and in the Ryugu and Bennu samples.
ElkinstantoniteAn iron phosphate oxide from the El Ali iron meteorite, named after the leader of the Psyche mission.
HutcheoniteA titanium-bearing garnet that grew when a CAI in Allende was altered on its parent asteroid.
MagnetiteThe strongly magnetic iron oxide that grew in water inside carbonaceous asteroids and forms the crust of cosmic spherules.
PyrrhotiteA magnetic iron sulphide with a little less iron than troilite, common in carbonaceous chondrites.
SaponiteA swelling clay mineral intergrown with serpentine in CI chondrites and in samples from Ryugu and Bennu.
SerpentineA water-bearing sheet silicate that makes up much of the matrix of CM and CI chondrites.

Glossary (98)

Questions and answers (119)

Are comets dangerous to Earth?Comets can hit Earth, and a large one would be very dangerous, but such impacts are extremely rare.
Are new meteorites still being found?Yes, thousands every year. The Meteoritical Society approved about 3,600 new meteorites in 2024 and nearly 2,000 in 2025, and each year'
Are there meteorites made of ice?No. Icy space objects, like bits of comets, melt or burn up before they reach the ground. But some meteorites have water locked inside their
Are there meteorites on the Moon and Mars?Yes! Astronauts found a meteorite on the Moon in 1969, and rovers on Mars have found several iron meteorites lying on the surface.
Can a meteorite be a fossil?Yes, in a way. In Sweden, scientists have found more than 100 'fossil meteorites' in limestone about 467 million years old.
Can asteroids have moons?Yes. Many asteroids have moons. The first was Dactyl, found orbiting Ida in 1993, and DART's target Dimorphos is the moon of Didymos.
Can I see an asteroid through a telescope?Yes. Some bright asteroids, such as Vesta and Ceres, can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope.
Can meteorites be made of glass?Not usually. Meteorites are mostly rock and metal. But their outer crust is glassy, and some natural glasses on Earth, called tektites, were
Can meteorites come from comets?Possibly, in rare cases, but no meteorite has been proven to come from a comet. Comet dust is fragile and fast, so it usually burns up as me
Can meteorites come from other star systems?Not as far as anyone has confirmed. Three interstellar objects have been seen passing through the Solar System, including 'Oumuamua in 2
Can scientists predict where a meteorite will land?Not usually in advance, but after a fireball is filmed from several places, scientists can calculate its path and predict a search area.
Can space rocks hit the Sun?Yes. Some comets dive straight into the Sun or are destroyed by its heat. Spacecraft watching the Sun have seen thousands of these sungrazin
Could a meteorite be made of gold?No meteorite is made of gold. Some contain tiny traces of gold and platinum, but they are mostly rock, iron and nickel.
Could a meteorite carry dangerous germs from space?There is no evidence that meteorites carry living organisms from space, let alone harmful ones. Germs on meteorites come from Earth after th
Could an asteroid wipe out life on Earth?A very large impact could cause a mass extinction, as one did 66 million years ago, but sterilising the whole planet would need an object fa
Could asteroids be mined in the future?Possibly. Asteroids contain water, metals and other resources, and companies and space agencies have studied mining them, but no asteroid ha
Could I visit an asteroid one day?Maybe! Robots have already landed on asteroids. Sending people would be hard, but space agencies have studied it, and you could help make it
Could life have travelled between Earth and Mars on meteorites?It is possible in principle, because rocks have travelled from Mars to Earth, but there is no evidence that life ever made the journey.
Did asteroids ever have magnetic fields?Yes, some did. Studies of meteorites suggest that several early asteroids had molten metal cores that produced magnetic fields, like a small
Did dinosaurs see shooting stars?Yes! Shooting stars have been happening for billions of years, so dinosaurs would have seen them on clear nights, just as we do.
Did Jupiter affect which meteorites reach Earth?Yes. Jupiter's gravity shaped the asteroid belt, scattered outer Solar System material inwards, and today steers asteroid fragments onto
Do meteorites contain sugars or DNA building blocks?Yes. Some carbonaceous meteorites contain sugars, including ribose, and nucleobases used in DNA and RNA, though not DNA itself.
Do meteorites contain the building blocks of life?Some do. Carbonaceous chondrites contain amino acids, the components of DNA and RNA called nucleobases, and even sugars, all made by natural
Do meteorites have aliens in them?No living things, alien or otherwise, have ever been found in meteorites. But some meteorites contain chemicals that are building blocks of
Do we know which asteroids ordinary chondrites came from?Increasingly, yes. Recent studies link many L chondrites to the Massalia asteroid family and many H chondrites to young families in the Koro
Does the Moon still get hit by meteorites?Yes. The Moon is struck constantly by meteoroids, and telescopes on Earth see impact flashes, while orbiting spacecraft have photographed ne
Has an asteroid ever been spotted before it hit Earth?Yes. Since 2008 about a dozen small asteroids have been discovered hours before striking Earth, and meteorites were recovered from a few of
How big are asteroids?They range from metres to nearly 1,000 kilometres across. Ceres, the largest, is about 940 kilometres wide; most known asteroids are a few k
How can a rock from Mars reach Earth?A large asteroid impact on Mars can blast surface rocks fast enough to escape the planet's gravity, about 5 kilometres per second.
How can I show pupils that most meteorites come from asteroids?Use orbits calculated from filmed fireballs, which trace back to the asteroid belt, plus spacecraft samples from asteroids Itokawa, Ryugu an
How can I teach about water on Earth using meteorites?Some meteorites contain water-bearing minerals and water with hydrogen isotopes similar to Earth's oceans, so pupils can weigh the evide
How can I teach infrared light using asteroid detection?Asteroids glow in infrared because they are warmed by the Sun, so infrared telescopes can find dark asteroids and measure their sizes better
How can I teach mass extinctions using the Chicxulub impact?Use the evidence chain, iridium layer, shocked quartz, spherules and the buried crater, to show how scientists linked an asteroid to the end
How can I teach meteorites without real specimens?Use high-quality photographs, replicas, everyday analogues, videos, virtual 3D models and hands-on models, and focus on evidence and reasoni
How can I teach momentum using the DART mission?DART's impact on Dimorphos is a real example of momentum transfer: students can estimate the change in speed and see why ejected debris
How can I teach orbits and gravity using asteroids?Asteroids show how gravity shapes paths around the Sun, how resonances with Jupiter deliver meteorites, and how gravity assists and deflecti
How can I teach the Winchcombe meteorite story?Winchcombe is ideal: a 2021 UK fall recorded by cameras, found on a driveway, rapidly recovered and found to be a rare carbonaceous chondrit
How can I use meteorite news stories to teach source evaluation?Compare headlines with scientific facts, check how probabilities are reported, and identify sensational language, using stories such as aste
How can I use meteorites in chemistry lessons?Meteorites show elements and compounds in nature: iron-nickel alloys, silicates, sulfides and even organic molecules, and they link to the o
How can I use meteorites to teach Earth's layers?Iron meteorites model Earth's metal core, pallasites the core-mantle region and stony meteorites the mantle and crust, helping pupils un
How can meteorites inspire art and creative writing?Pupils can write from a meteorite's point of view, create comic strips of a fall, paint Widmanstätten patterns or design museum labels.
How do I talk about asteroid impacts without frightening pupils?Give accurate facts calmly, emphasise how rare large impacts are and how scientists are watching, and focus on curiosity and problem-solving
How do scientists stop meteorites being contaminated?By collecting fresh falls quickly with clean tools, storing samples in dry nitrogen or vacuum, using clean rooms, and checking isotopes to t
How do we know a meteorite came from Mars?Gas trapped in glass inside some Martian meteorites matches the unusual atmosphere measured on Mars by the Viking landers in 1976.
How do we know a meteorite came from the Moon?Lunar meteorites match the rocks and soils brought back by the Apollo and Luna missions in their minerals, chemistry and oxygen isotopes.
How do we know which asteroid a meteorite came from?Usually we only know the likely type or region of asteroid, by matching how meteorites and asteroids reflect light, reconstructing fireball
How hot did the insides of asteroids get?It varied. Some asteroids stayed cool enough for ice to melt but not rock, while others reached 1,000 °C or more and melted completely into
How long has Earth been hit by space rocks?Ever since it formed, about 4.5 billion years ago. Impacts were much more common in Earth's early days and are rare today.
How many different parent bodies do meteorites come from?Probably more than a hundred. Meteorite groups and ungrouped meteorites suggest dozens of iron meteorite parent bodies alone, plus many more
How many space rocks are there?Billions and billions. Astronomers have found more than a million asteroids, and there are countless smaller pieces, down to specks of dust.
How often does a Tunguska-sized event happen?Objects about 40 to 60 metres across, like the one that caused the Tunguska event of 1908, are thought to strike Earth roughly once every fe
Should I worry about an asteroid hitting Earth?No. Big asteroid strikes are extremely rare, and astronomers are watching the sky to find any that could come close.
What are achondrites?Achondrites are stony meteorites that formed from melted rock, so they lack the chondrules found in chondrites.
What are asteroids made of?Asteroids are made of rock, metal, or a mixture of both. Some dark ones contain water locked in clay and carbon-rich chemicals.
What are good discussion questions about meteorites?Questions about ownership, selling, Antarctica, planetary defence and evidence for life spark debate and develop reasoning skills.
What are HED meteorites and why are they linked to Vesta?HED meteorites are the howardites, eucrites and diogenites, a family of igneous achondrites.
What are interplanetary dust particles?Interplanetary dust particles are tiny grains collected in Earth's stratosphere by high-flying aircraft; many come from comets and are a
What are the main types of meteorite?There are three broad types: stony meteorites, iron meteorites and stony-iron meteorites.
What are the samples from Ryugu and Bennu?They are pristine samples of two carbon-rich asteroids brought to Earth by spacecraft: about 5.4 grams from Ryugu by Japan's Hayabusa2 i
What can meteorites tell us about the early Solar System?Meteorites act as a time capsule, recording when the first solids formed, how quickly asteroids and planets grew and melted, which stars con
What causes meteor showers?Meteor showers happen when Earth passes through a trail of dust and small particles shed by a comet, or occasionally an asteroid, along its
What did ALH 84001 tell us about life on Mars?In 1996 a NASA-led team suggested ALH 84001 held possible signs of ancient Martian microbes.
What do meteorite scientists wear in the lab?Gloves, lab coats and safety glasses, and for the most precious samples, full clean-room suits with hoods and masks to stop contamination.
What do the numbers in a name like L6 or H5 mean?The letter is the chemical group of an ordinary chondrite (H, L or LL, reflecting its iron and metal content), and the number is the petrolo
What does the inside of an asteroid look like?Many asteroids are rubble piles, loose heaps of rocks and dust with gaps between, while others are solid rock or metal.
What happened at Chelyabinsk in 2013?On 15 February 2013 a stony asteroid about 18–20 metres across exploded high above Chelyabinsk in Russia.
What happened to the asteroid that hit the dinosaurs?It was mostly destroyed in the impact, vaporising and melting. It left a huge crater, now buried under Mexico, and a thin layer of dust arou
What happened with asteroid 2024 YR4?Asteroid 2024 YR4, about 60 metres across, briefly had a chance of hitting Earth in 2032 of up to about 3 per cent, before further observati
What homework tasks work well for a meteorite topic?Good tasks include a home meteor watch, interviewing family about fireballs, making a model, researching a famous meteorite, writing a news
What is a breccia meteorite?A breccia meteorite is made of broken fragments of rock cemented back together, usually by impacts on its parent body.
What is a carbonaceous chondrite?A carbonaceous chondrite is a primitive stony meteorite rich in carbon compounds and often in water-bearing minerals.
What is a CM chondrite?A CM chondrite is a carbonaceous chondrite altered by water, rich in clay minerals and organic compounds, such as Murchison and Winchcombe.
What is a crater?A crater is a round hollow in the ground made when a fast space rock smashes into a planet or moon. Volcanoes can make craters too.
What is a dwarf planet?A dwarf planet is a world that orbits the Sun and is round, but is not big enough to clear other objects out of its path. Pluto and Ceres ar
What is a howardite?A howardite is a type of achondrite meteorite made of broken fragments of two kinds of rock, eucrite and diogenite, fused together.
What is a meteor shower?A meteor shower is a period when many more meteors than usual are seen, all appearing to fly out from the same point in the sky, because Ear
What is a near-Earth asteroid?A near-Earth asteroid is one whose orbit brings it within about 1.3 times Earth's distance from the Sun, so it can pass relatively close
What is a planetesimal?A planetesimal is one of the small solid bodies, from about a kilometre to hundreds of kilometres across, that formed in the young Sun's
What is a regolith breccia and what can it tell us?A regolith breccia is a rock made from the compacted surface soil of an asteroid, the Moon or another airless body, preserving a record of i
What is an asteroid?An asteroid is a small, rocky or metallic body orbiting the Sun, left over from the formation of the planets.
What is an aubrite?An aubrite is a pale achondrite made almost entirely of iron-free enstatite pyroxene, formed in extremely oxygen-poor conditions.
What is an iron meteorite?An iron meteorite is made mainly of iron-nickel metal. Most are thought to be pieces of the metallic cores of asteroids that melted and sepa
What is Apophis and will it hit Earth?Apophis is an asteroid about 340 metres across that will pass very close to Earth on 13 April 2029.
What is aqueous alteration in meteorites?Aqueous alteration is the change of minerals by liquid water inside asteroids, which turned olivine, pyroxene and metal into clays, carbonat
What is Ceres like?Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, a dwarf planet about 940 kilometres across, with a crust of rock, ice and salts and bright
What is NASA doing about dangerous asteroids?NASA funds sky surveys that find and track near-Earth objects, calculates their future orbits, coordinates planetary defence through a dedic
What is space weathering?Space weathering is the slow change of airless surfaces, such as the Moon and asteroids, caused by solar wind, cosmic rays and micrometeorit
What is the asteroid belt like?The asteroid belt is a huge, mostly empty region between Mars and Jupiter where millions of rocky bodies orbit the Sun, usually very far apa
What is the asteroid belt?The asteroid belt is a broad region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where most known asteroids orbit the Sun.
What is the chance of being hit by a meteorite?Extremely small: there are only a few reliably documented injuries in all of recorded history, so the risk to any one person in a lifetime i
What is the closest a big asteroid will come to Earth soon?On 13 April 2029, asteroid Apophis, about 340 metres across, will pass about 32,000 kilometres above Earth, close enough to see without a te
What is the difference between an asteroid and a comet?Asteroids are mostly rock and metal and stay inert, while comets contain a lot of ice and develop a glowing head and tails when they come cl
What is the difference between an asteroid and a planet?Planets are big, round and have cleared their paths around the Sun. Asteroids are much smaller, usually lumpy, and share their paths with ma
What is the Kaidun meteorite?Kaidun is an extraordinary meteorite that fell in Yemen in 1980, containing a mixture of many different meteorite types in one stone.
What is the Kuiper Belt?The Kuiper Belt is a region beyond Neptune, about 30 to 50 times Earth's distance from the Sun, containing icy bodies such as Pluto and
What is the Oort Cloud?The Oort Cloud is a vast, distant shell of icy bodies thought to surround the Solar System, the source of long-period comets.
What is the Torino scale?The Torino scale rates the hazard of an asteroid or comet impact from 0, no hazard, to 10, certain global catastrophe, to help communicate r
What is Vesta?Vesta is the second-largest body in the asteroid belt, about 525 kilometres across.
What killed the dinosaurs?Most scientists agree that the main cause was an asteroid about 10 km across that struck Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago
What was the DART mission?DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) was a NASA spacecraft that deliberately crashed into the small asteroid Dimorphos on 26 September 20
What was the Ribbeck meteorite?Ribbeck is a rare aubrite meteorite from asteroid 2024 BX1, which was discovered hours before it burned up over Germany on 21 January 2024.
What was the Tagish Lake meteorite?Tagish Lake is a fragile, carbon-rich meteorite that fell on a frozen lake in Canada on 18 January 2000 and was collected frozen, preserving
What was the Winchcombe meteorite?Winchcombe is a rare carbonaceous chondrite that fell in Gloucestershire, England, on 28 February 2021.
What would happen if a meteorite landed in the sea?A small meteorite would make a splash and sink to the bottom. Only a very large asteroid would cause big waves.
What would I see if I stood on an asteroid?You would see a rocky, dusty, cratered ground under a black sky, with the Sun shining brightly. Gravity would be so weak you could jump into
Where do meteorites come from?Most meteorites are fragments of asteroids, chipped off in collisions in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Which planet gets hit by the most space rocks?Jupiter. Its enormous size and strong gravity pull in more comets and asteroids than any other planet.
Who discovered that meteorites come from space?No single person: the German physicist Ernst Chladni argued in 1794 that they came from space, chemist Edward Howard showed in 1802 that the
Why are asteroids different colours?Asteroids look different colours because they are made of different materials and have different histories.
Why are carbonaceous chondrites so fragile?They are porous and full of soft clay minerals and organic matter, so they crumble easily, break up in the atmosphere and weather quickly on
Why are most meteorites chondrites?Most meteorites are chondrites because unmelted, chondritic asteroids are abundant in the parts of the asteroid belt that feed material to E
Why are some meteorites from Mars?When big space rocks hit Mars, they can blast pieces of Mars into space. A few of these pieces, after drifting for millions of years, land o
Why aren't asteroids round?Most asteroids are too small for their gravity to pull them into a ball, so they stay lumpy, like potatoes or peanuts.
Why do asteroids slowly drift in their orbits?Sunlight warms asteroids, and the heat they radiate gives a tiny push, called the Yarkovsky effect, that slowly changes their orbits over mi
Why do CI chondrites match the composition of the Sun?CI chondrites formed from material that never melted or lost most of its elements, so apart from gases, their chemistry closely matches the
Why do scientists care about tiny space rocks?Tiny space rocks are leftovers from when the planets formed, so they help scientists learn how Earth was made and where water and life's
Why do some meteorites break into many pieces?As a meteoroid plunges into thicker air, the pressure on its front builds rapidly.
Why do some meteorites contain gas from the Sun?Grains that once lay on the surface of an airless asteroid were bombarded by the solar wind, which implanted solar gases into their outer la
Why is it called a meteor?The word comes from Ancient Greek meaning 'high in the air'. Long ago, anything happening in the sky, even rain, was called a meteor

Meteor showers (3)

The Daytime Sextantids meteor showerDaytime Sextantids meteor shower: peak around 27 September to 1 October, active late September to early October.
The Geminids meteor showerGeminids meteor shower: peak around 13–14 December, active about 4–20 December. The Geminids are, in most years, the richest meteor shower o
The Kappa Cygnids meteor showerKappa Cygnids meteor shower: peak around 13–17 August, active early to late August.

Impact craters (9)

Clearwater LakesThe Clearwater Lakes, in northern Quebec near Hudson Bay, are one of the most famous sights in impact geology.
DalgarangaDalgaranga is a small meteorite crater about 24 m across and 3 m deep in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
GranbyGranby is a buried impact crater about 3 km across in Östergötland, southern Sweden, just east of Lake Vättern.
GusevGusev is a small buried impact crater about 3 km across in Rostov Oblast, southern Russia.
HummelnHummeln is a small impact crater about 1.2 km across, filled by the round waters of Lake Hummeln in the province of Småland, south-eastern S
LockneLockne, in the province of Jämtland in central Sweden, is one of the best-studied examples of a crater formed in the sea.
MålingenMålingen is a small impact crater about 1 km across in Jämtland, central Sweden, about 16 km from the much larger Lockne crater.
Tunguska (airburst, no crater)On the morning of 30 June 1908 an enormous explosion shook the forests near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central Siberia.
TvärenTvären is a round bay about 2 km across in the archipelago off the coast of Södermanland, south of Stockholm, Sweden.

Impact events (9)

Asteroid 2008 TC3The first asteroid ever seen in space before it hit Earth. On 6 October 2008 the astronomer Richard Kowalski, working with a survey telescop
Asteroid 2018 LAA predicted impact that delivered a howardite, the meteorite type this site is named after.
Asteroid 2023 CX1The first predicted meteorite fall in Europe, seen from both sides of the Channel.
Asteroid 2024 BX1A predicted fall that brought down one of the rarest kinds of meteorite. On the evening of 20 January 2024 Krisztián Sárneczky, who had foun
Asteroids seen before impactSince 2008, telescopes have caught more than a dozen small asteroids hours before they hit.
Chicxulub: the end of the dinosaursThe impact that ended the age of the dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago an asteroid about 10 km wide struck a shallow sea at the edge of
EltaninThe only known impact of a large asteroid into the deep ocean. Most impact craters are found on land, but about 70 per cent of Earth's s
The Ordovician meteorite rainWhen an asteroid broke apart and Earth was showered with meteorites for millions of years.
Tunguska, 1908The largest impact event in recorded history, and it left no crater. On the morning of 30 June 1908 people across central Siberia saw a bril

Asteroids (41)

1950 DA1950 DA is an asteroid about 1.3 kilometres across whose orbit is being watched with great patience, because the date of interest is more th
1998 KY261998 KY26 is a tiny asteroid that will become the smallest ever visited by a spacecraft.
2008 TC32008 TC3 was the first asteroid ever found in space before it hit the Earth. Richard Kowalski spotted it on 6 October 2008 with a survey tel
2018 LA2018 LA was a small asteroid, less than 2 metres across, discovered on 2 June 2018 by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona only about eight ho
2023 CX12023 CX1 was a small asteroid about a metre across that fell over northern France in the early hours of 13 February 2023.
2024 YR42024 YR4 is a small asteroid that briefly became the most talked-about rock in the sky, and its story is a perfect lesson in how asteroid tr
AmorAmor is a small asteroid, roughly a kilometre across, best known for the group of asteroids named after it.
AnnefrankAnnefrank is a small asteroid in the inner main belt, about 6 kilometres long, that played a supporting role in one of the great space missi
ApolloApollo was the first asteroid found whose orbit crosses Earth's. Karl Reinmuth discovered it at Heidelberg on 24 April 1932, when it pas
ApophisApophis is an asteroid about 340 metres across that will make a spectacular but completely safe pass by Earth on 13 April 2029.
AtenAten was the first asteroid found that spends most of its time closer to the Sun than Earth does.
BennuBennu is a small, dark asteroid about 490 metres across that has been studied more closely than almost any other.
CeresCeres was the first object found in the gap between Mars and Jupiter. Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it from Palermo on the first night of 1801, an
Asteroid close approachesEvery known asteroid passing within 19 Moon distances of Earth over the past month and the coming year, with distances, sizes and speeds exp
Didymos and DimorphosDidymos is a near-Earth asteroid about 780 metres across with a small moon, Dimorphos, about 150 metres wide, circling it at a distance of a
DinkineshDinkinesh is a small asteroid that was added to NASA's Lucy mission almost as an afterthought, and then produced one of its biggest surp
DonaldjohansonDonaldjohanson is a small asteroid in the inner part of the main belt, and the second target of NASA's Lucy mission on its long journey
Duende (2012 DA14)Duende, first known as 2012 DA14, is a small asteroid that passed exceptionally close to Earth on 15 February 2013.
ErosEros was the first near-Earth asteroid ever discovered. Gustav Witt found it from Berlin on 13 August 1898, and Auguste Charlois photographe
EurybatesEurybates is a Trojan asteroid: one of a large population of bodies that share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun.
FlorenceFlorence is one of the largest near-Earth asteroids, about 4.5 kilometres across. Schelte Bus discovered it on 2 March 1981 at the Siding Sp
GanymedGanymed is the largest known near-Earth asteroid, about 35 kilometres across. It is not to be confused with Ganymede, the largest moon of Ju
GaspraGaspra was the first asteroid ever seen close up. On 29 October 1991 NASA's Galileo spacecraft, travelling to Jupiter, passed within abo
GolevkaGolevka is a small near-Earth asteroid, about 530 metres across, that made history in 2003.
HygieaHygiea is the fourth largest body in the asteroid belt, about 430 kilometres across, yet it is far less famous than Ceres or Vesta.
IcarusIcarus is named after the young man in Greek legend who flew too close to the Sun, and the name fits.
IdaIda is famous for its moon. When NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew past it on 28 August 1993, the pictures were stored on board and sent ba
ItokawaItokawa was the first asteroid from which samples were brought back to Earth. Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft arrived in September 2005, stu
JunoJuno was the third asteroid found, discovered by Karl Harding at Lilienthal, near Bremen, in September 1804.
KamoʻoalewaKamoʻoalewa is a small asteroid that seems to keep Earth company. It orbits the Sun, not the Earth, but its orbit is so similar to ours that
KleopatraKleopatra is one of the strangest shapes in the asteroid belt. Radar observations in 2000 showed that it is long and narrow with swollen end
LutetiaLutetia is one of the largest asteroids photographed close up by a spacecraft. The European Space Agency's Rosetta flew past it on 10 Ju
MathildeMathilde is one of the darkest objects ever photographed by a spacecraft. It reflects only about 4 per cent of the sunlight that falls on it
PallasPallas was the second asteroid discovered, found by the German physician and astronomer Heinrich Olbers in March 1802 while he was following
PatroclusPatroclus is not one asteroid but two. In 2001 astronomers found that it is a pair of nearly equal bodies, each about 110 kilometres across,
PhaethonPhaethon is the asteroid behind the Geminids, one of the richest meteor showers of the year.
PsychePsyche stands out among the large asteroids because it appears to be rich in metal.
RyuguRyugu is a dark, carbon-rich asteroid about 900 metres across, shaped like a spinning top with a ridge around its equator.
ŠteinsŠteins is a small asteroid with an unusual make-up. It belongs to the rare E-type asteroids, which are very bright because their surfaces ar
ToutatisToutatis is an elongated asteroid about 4.5 kilometres long that does not spin neatly like most bodies.
VestaThe howardites, the meteorites this site is named after, come from Vesta. Together with the eucrites and diogenites they form the HED meteor

Comets (8)

Comet 169P/NEATThe faint parent of the Alpha Capricornids, a summer shower famous for slow, bright fireballs.
2003 EH1, the Quadrantid parentA dark rock that may be all that is left of a comet seen in 1490, and the parent of the Quadrantids.
Comet 209P/LINEARA faint, worn-out comet whose much-hyped meteor shower in 2014 taught astronomers how little dust some comets make.
Comet 3I/ATLASThe third visitor from another star, found in July 2025 and watched by a fleet of spacecraft across the Solar System.
Comet BlanpainA tiny comet lost for 184 years, found again as an asteroid, and the source of the Phoenicid meteor storm of 1956.
Elst–Pizarro, the first main-belt cometAn asteroid in the main belt that grows a dusty tail, showing that ice survives among the asteroids meteorites come from.
Comet NEOWISEThe brightest comet of the 2020s so far for northern observers, discovered by a space telescope hunting asteroids.
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9The comet torn apart by Jupiter, whose pieces crashed into the planet in July 1994 while the world watched.

Micrometeorites (7)

Cosmic dust collected by space missionsTo be sure exactly where a grain of dust came from, you have to fetch it yourself.
Fossil micrometeorites and the air of the ancient EarthMicrometeorites trapped in ancient rocks are tiny probes of the past. Iron spherules 2.7 billion years old have been used to test what the u
How much space dust falls on Earth each year?Thousands of tonnes of micrometeorites reach the ground every year. The exact figure is surprisingly hard to pin down, and different methods
What micrometeorites reveal about the early Solar SystemMicrometeorites carry material from many more comets and asteroids than the meteorites in our museums, including fragile, carbon-rich bodies
Scoriaceous, unmelted and ultracarbonaceous micrometeoritesNot every micrometeorite melts. Some arrive gently enough to keep the minerals, textures and even the organic matter they had in space, maki
Water and the ingredients of life: did space dust deliver them?Every year, micrometeorites drop tonnes of carbon and water-bearing minerals onto the Earth.
Where do micrometeorites come from?Micrometeorites begin as dust shed by comets and ground off asteroids in collisions.

People (18)

Ashley KingThe Natural History Museum scientist who collected the Winchcombe meteorite from a family's driveway in 2021 and helped lead its study.
Carolyn ShoemakerThe astronomer who began searching the sky in her fifties and discovered more comets than almost anyone, including the one that hit Jupiter.
Christopher RussellThe UCLA scientist who led NASA's Dawn mission, which orbited Vesta and Ceres and confirmed that the HED meteorites come from Vesta. Chr
Daniel KirkwoodThe astronomer who discovered in 1866 the gaps in the asteroid belt made by Jupiter's gravity, now called the Kirkwood gaps.
Dante LaurettaThe University of Arizona scientist who led OSIRIS-REx, the mission that brought about 120 grams of the asteroid Bennu back to Earth in 2023
Eugene ShoemakerThe founder of planetary geology, who proved Meteor Crater was an impact and co-discovered the comet that hit Jupiter.
Giuseppe PiazziThe astronomer in Palermo who discovered Ceres, the first known asteroid, on the first night of the nineteenth century.
Harry McSweenThe planetary geologist who helped prove that the SNC meteorites come from Mars and wrote widely read books on meteorites and their parent w
Heinrich OlbersThe Bremen doctor and astronomer who discovered the asteroids Pallas in 1802 and Vesta in 1807.
Junichiro KawaguchiThe Japanese engineer who led the Hayabusa mission, which nursed a crippled spacecraft home with the first grains from an asteroid.
Krisztián SárneczkyThe Hungarian astronomer who discovered three small asteroids hours before they struck the Earth, including one that fell near Berlin in 202
Luke DalyThe Glasgow planetary geologist who helped organise the search that recovered most of the Winchcombe meteorite in 2021.
Michael ZolenskyThe NASA curator of cosmic dust who found liquid water from an asteroid inside salt crystals in the Monahans meteorite. Michael E.
Peter JenniskensThe meteor astronomer who led the desert search that found the first meteorites from an asteroid tracked in space before impact.
Richard BinzelThe MIT astronomer who found the family of small asteroids broken off Vesta and created the Torino scale for impact risk. Richard P.
Richard KowalskiThe Catalina Sky Survey astronomer who discovered 2008 TC3, the first asteroid ever found before it hit the Earth. Richard A.
Thomas McCordThe planetary scientist who showed in 1970 that the asteroid Vesta has the same colours as basaltic meteorites, and later worked on the Dawn
William HerschelThe astronomer who discovered Uranus and in 1802 coined the word asteroid for the small bodies found between Mars and Jupiter.

Museums and collections (2)

JAXA Extraterrestrial Sample Curation CenterThe clean laboratories that received the first grains ever returned from asteroids, from Itokawa and Ryugu.
NASA Johnson Space Center astromaterials collectionsThe laboratories that look after the Apollo Moon rocks, US Antarctic meteorites and samples from comets and asteroids.

Strewn fields (1)

The Almahata Sitta strewn fieldThe first asteroid spotted in space before it hit Earth, and the first strewn field searched along a track predicted in advance.