Meteorite Research

Stories the Meteorites Tell. . .

A scientist is examining a sample under the microscope in the meteorite lab.

Research scientists study meteorites to learn the history of the solar system. They use various scientific techniques to study each of the different types of meteorites. They have learned that meteorites are very ancient rocks that come from many different bodies in the solar system.

Chondrites, stony meteorites which contain round chondrules, are by far the most common types of meteorites. They have primitive compositions that are similar to that of the Sun without the gaseous elements. Most of them are ordinary chondrites, but a few are carbonaceous chondrites which contain carbon and water in addition to the rocky minerals, and these are the most primitive.

Carbonaceous chondrite Allan Hills 84028.

Scientists use optical microscopes and electron microscopes and microprobes to study meteorites. They look at the types and compositions of minerals and their textural relationships. They have found that some minerals in carbonaceous chondrites were the first minerals to crystallize during the formation of the solar system and that chondrules are the building blocks of the planets.

Scientist using a scanning electron microscope to study the mineralogy of a meteorite.

Scientists have concluded that chondrites and most other stony, stony-iron, and iron meteorites come from asteroids. There are two major reasons for this conclusion, astronomical and geological. Astronomers measured the orbits of several falling meteorites and found that they reach out to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Geologists and geochemists measured the ages of many meteorites and found them to be as old as the solar system (4.5 billion years), and unlikely to be from younger, more geologically active planets and moons.