Meteorites

A meteorite is a fragment of rock or metallic iron from space that enters Earth’s atmosphere and survives the fall to Earth’s surface. Meteorite falls are such rare events that most people have never witnessed the fall of a meteorite.

Throughout history, meteorites have been revered by many peoples and cultures. Today we know many scientific details about them which makes "rocks from space" even more fascinating. From a scientific viewpoint, meteorites reveal very important information about the Solar System and its creation, and potentially can give clues to the development of life on earth.

Their attributes and composition distinguishes them from Earth rocks and their great age allows us to decode the events that occurred during the formation and in the early days of the Solar System.

In addition to their scientific value, meteorites are also coveted collector’s items as for people passionate about space and space exploration.
This is most notable for the rarest meteorite types such as Lunar and Martian meteorites, putting them among the most valuable rocks on earth. People across the world have fallen under the spell of fascination that collecting pieces of different asteroids and planets provides.

There are many types of meteorites, from stone meteorites (chondrites and achondrites), iron meteorites, stony-iron meteorites, to planetary meteorites. All of these types are typically subdivided into corresponding subtypes. You can see a short classification scheme of stony meteorites below.