Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A meteoroid shown entering the atmosphere, causing a visible meteor and hitting the Earth's surface, becoming a meteorite. A meteoroid ( / ˈmiːtiərɔɪd / MEE-tee-ə-royd) [1] is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space . Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects ...
Meteorite. The 60- tonne, 2.7 m-long (8.9 ft) Hoba meteorite in Namibia is the largest known intact meteorite. [1] A meteorite is a rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the ...
Meteoritics [note 1] is the science that deals with meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids. [note 2] [2] [3] It is closely connected to cosmochemistry, mineralogy and geochemistry. A specialist who studies meteoritics is known as a meteoriticist. [4]
Chondrite. Small to medium asteroids that were never part of a body large enough to undergo melting and planetary differentiation. A chondrite / ˈkɒndraɪt / is a stony (non- metallic) meteorite that has not been modified, by either melting or differentiation of the parent body. [a] [1] They are formed when various types of dust and small ...
Meteorite classification. In meteoritics, a meteorite classification system attempts to group similar meteorites and allows scientists to communicate with a standardized terminology when discussing them. Meteorites are classified according to a variety of characteristics, especially mineralogical, petrological, chemical, and isotopic properties.
Iron meteorites, also called siderites or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite. Most iron meteorites originate from cores of planetesimals, with the exception of the IIE iron meteorite group
A. Ablation – the process of a meteorite losing mass during the passage through the atmosphere. Acapulcoite – a group of primitive achondrites. Accretion – the process in which matter of the protoplanetary disk coalesces to form planetesimals. Achondrite – a differentiated meteorite (meaning without chondrules ).
Carbonaceous chondrites or C chondrites are a class of chondritic meteorites comprising at least 8 known groups and many ungrouped meteorites. They include some of the most primitive known meteorites. The C chondrites represent only a small proportion (4.6%) [1] of meteorite falls .