It gets a little scary when you realize that our planet is constantly being bombarded by rock-sized rocks, but that's how it is. It's good that we have an atmosphere that can fry a cheeky asteroid or comet if it falls on our heads, but sometimes they do fall to Earth, causing inconvenience of all sizes. Let's look at ten of the most interesting meteorites that fell on our planet at different times in its rich history.
1. Tunguska meteorite
This meteor flew through the Earth's atmosphere over Siberia in 1908 and exploded just a few kilometers from the Siberian surface.
The explosion had the force of an atomic bomb and toppled trees over an area of 800 square kilometers. It took years for scientists to begin exploring the abandoned and uninhabited area; a hundred years later they are still looking for conclusive evidence of a meteorite impact in the form of a crater or body debris.
They say Nikola Tesla was hit by a meteorite, but this is just another reason for the conspiracy theory.
Some believe that the crater is hidden in a nearby lake. Others believe that at the last moment an alien ship destroyed the meteorite so that it would not destroy the Earth. Well, we have a lot to learn from aliens.
Separate line: the death of the dinosaurs
As you know, the dinosaurs died, most likely due to an asteroid impact. More than half of all species on the planet died along with them. Scientists are not 100% sure that it was this asteroid that triggered the so-called K-T extinction, but they have some reason to believe that the villain came from outer space.
Most of the soil during the event (K-T layer) contains a lot of iridium, which is abundant on asteroids but scarce on Earth.
Scientists believe that about 65 million years ago, one or more iridium comets, or meteorites, hit Earth, sending dust into the atmosphere and causing widespread climate change. Where did this guest fall? No one knows, but some researchers believe that a crater on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is the same place.
2. Khoba Meteorite
Weighing 60 tons, the Khoba meteorite, which still lies in its place in Namibia, is the largest known meteorite on the planet. The flat slab of iron fell to earth some 80,000 years ago, so we don't know for sure what kind of pyrotechnic display accompanied its arrival, but it wasn't discovered until 1920 when a farmer dug in his field and came across the metal top. Since then, Khoba has become a national treasure, attracting thousands of visitors every year.
3. Williams Meteorite
Weighing approximately 15 tons and three meters high, this massive, bony piece of iron is believed to be the remnant of the iron core of a planet that crashed billions of years ago.
Thousands of years ago, Williamette fell on our planet and was discovered only in 1902 by peace-loving Americans in the form of a healing spring of the Clackamas Indians - Tomanovos.
Tomanovos now rests in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, but a tribe of Indians recently struck a deal with the museum to keep the meteorite in place as long as the Clackamas visited it for ceremonial purposes.
4. Sikhote-Alin
When this massive iron meteorite roared from the sky in February 1947, eyewitnesses said it was brighter than the sun. And when the explosion tore it apart, its fragments showered the ground over an area of half a square kilometer in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in Siberia.
The entry into the atmosphere and the explosion were visible within two hundred kilometers. For years, meteorite hunters have scoured the area in search of recognizable metal bars twisted and curled in interesting ways.
Small pieces of Sikhote-Alin are still sold.
5. Sylacauga/Hodges Meteorite
Anne Hodges and her meteorite bruise.
One autumn day in 1954, a 31-year-old housewife from Alabama named Ann Hodges was dozing on the couch when a five-kilogram meteorite fell from the sky.
He broke through the roof and hit the woman in the thigh. Luckily, Hodges escaped with a bruise, but neighbors saw the grapefruit-sized rock as a fireball that cut through the sky. Hodges received her moment of fame, and later donated the meteorite to the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
Not long ago, a German boy said that a meteorite also fell on him while going to school. The 14-year-old schoolboy said he saw a flash of light before being hit by a pea-sized meteorite. Who knew pebbles could be so dangerous.
6. ALH 84001
Loud name, isn't it? In fact, the meteorite is much more impressive than its discreet name.
ALH 84001 (let's call it Al for short) was discovered in Antarctica in 1984, 13,000 years after arriving from Mars.
Yes, from Mars.
Al was born from the lava of a Martian volcano about four and a half billion years ago. 15 million years ago, it lay on the surface of Mars, and then another asteroid or meteorite freed it, sending it to Earth, after which it landed in the Allan Hills in Antarctica.
Inside Al, there may be evidence of early Martian life in the form of fossilized algae or small amounts of bacteria.
7. Meteorite Orgueil
The Orgueil meteorite burned through the atmosphere in May 1864, breaking into 20 pieces on its way to the French town of Orgueil. The fragments were soft enough to be cut with a knife, and very soon the remains of the meteorite were distributed to museums around the world.
Since then, the Orgueil meteorite has caused a lot of controversy, as scientists have long wondered where the organic material brought with it came from - what if it was evidence of extraterrestrial life? But in fact, although the meteorite itself was real, the signs of life were faked.
How? Some spores stuck together with coal dust. But this has already happened in our world.
8. Peekskill Meteorite
In 1992, the Peekskill meteorite streaked across the sky over Kentucky and Pittsburgh in a greenish flame and fell on a parked car in Peekskill that was not at fault.
It was a 1980 Chevy Malibu that suffered only a massive dent and continued to drive around the world like a car that survived a meteor attack. And the meteorite was a very ordinary piece of iron the size of a bowling ball.
What was strange was the degree of attention given to the Peekskill meteorite. Because it crossed the East Coast, its path and trajectory were recorded on video and analyzed by scientists, but it turned out to be a very ordinary meteorite. It's a pity.
9. Murchison Meteorite
The Murchison meteorite broke into hundreds of pieces when it fell in Australia in September 1969. The largest of the pieces weighed about 50 kg, the smallest - less than 200 grams.
It fell to the ground in a massive fireball followed by a misty tail before disintegrating. Fragments are still being studied.
It turned out that the meteorite contains a wide range of amino acids, the building blocks of life, so there is obvious interest in it from astrobiologists.
10. Allende Meteorite
The Allende meteorite, which fell to Earth in 1969 in Mexico, broke up into hundreds of fragments while still in flight. Together they will weigh several tons. Fragments, of course, were sent to private collections.
Many of the black pebbles are coated with a glassy material that forms when exposed to high temperatures as they pass through the atmosphere. The meteorite contains particles that may be older than our solar system, olivine and even microscopic diamonds.
The largest meteorites ever found on Earth June 2nd, 2015
Remember I told you, let's now talk about the largest one found on Earth.
According to astronomers, about 100 thousand tons of meteorite matter fall to Earth every year. Since upon entering the atmosphere the meteor body begins to heat up and glow, gradually losing its mass due to ablation, we observe most of the “projectiles” from space only in the sky. Finding a meteorite fragment is very rare. Only a knowledgeable specialist can recognize a celestial body of extraterrestrial origin in a randomly found “block.”
Often only a few kilograms or even grams of matter reach the surface, but sometimes practically “space bombs” weighing several tens of tons fall to the Earth. In the entire history of astronomy, 7 meteorites were found on the planet, which seriously excited the whole world.
Willamette
Where: USA
Weight: 15.5 tons
The size of this meteorite is comparable to the dimensions of a small car. It is believed that it fell to Earth about 1 billion years ago. For many years it simply rusted in the middle of the forests of western Oregon until it was discovered by the Indians. In 1902, the Indian find ended up in the hands of miner Ellis Hughes, then it became the property of the Oregon Steel Company, and in 1905 the meteorite was bought for 26 thousand dollars by Mrs. William E. Dodge. Today, the Willamette meteorite is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Photo 2. 
Mbozi
Where: Africa
Weight: 16 tons
The meteorite reaches 3 meters in length and 1 meter in width. The meteorite was first discovered in 1930 by Johannesburg topographer W. G. Nott. It was found in southern Tanzania. A hole was dug around the meteorite, and the find itself was installed on a pedestal. Now anyone can examine a space object in all its details and take a series of pictures with it.
Photo 3. 
Agpalik
Where: Greenland
Weight: 20 tons
Agpalik is just a fragment of the Cape York meteorite that fell to Earth approximately 10,000 years ago. The meteorite was found in 1963 in Agpalik. The find is currently on permanent display at the Geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen.
Bakubirito
Where: Mexico
Weight: 22 tons
This “iron monster” was discovered by geologist Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1892. Like most meteorites, it was named after the place where it was found. The meteorite is on display at the Centro de Ciencias de Sinaloa Science Center, located in the city of Culiacan.
Photo 4. 
Anigito
Where: Greenland
Weight: 31 tons
This is the largest piece of the Cape York meteorite, the second largest meteorite preserved on the surface of the Earth. The dimensions of the fragment are 3.4 x 2.1 x 1.7 m. The discoverers of the meteorite were the Eskimos. In 1818, the Scottish navigator John Ross, who was searching for the Northern Sea Route, learned about the meteorite from them. The meteorite is currently on display in the Arthur Ross Hall of the American Museum of Natural History.
Photo 5. 
El Chaco
Where: Argentina
Weight: 37 tons
Several thousand years ago, a meteor shower rained near the town of Gansedo, as evidenced by numerous craters and finds of iron fragments weighing from several kilograms to many tons. Presumably the Campo del Cielo meteorite fell to Earth 4000-6000 years ago. El Chaco is the largest fragment of the Campo del Cielo iron meteorite. It was found using a metal detector in 1969 at a depth of 5 meters.
Photo 6. 
Goba
Where: Africa
Weight: 60 tons
The largest meteorite ever found on Earth lies in Namibia, near Goba West Farm. According to scientists, it fell about 80 thousand years ago. It was discovered in 1920 near Grootfontein. The meteorite is 84% iron, 16% nickel with a small admixture of cobalt. A tourist center has been opened near the location of the meteorite.
Let's also read a selection of the most “sensational” meteorites in the history of mankind.
1. Goba: the largest meteorite found (Namibia).
The largest meteorite found weighs more than 60 tons and has a diameter of about 3 meters. It fell on the territory of modern Namibia approximately 80 thousand years ago. The celestial body was discovered relatively recently - in 1920, the owner of the Hoba West Farm, located in the southwest of the country, came across a huge piece of iron while plowing one of his fields. The find was named after the farm. Composed of 84% iron, the meteorite is considered the largest nugget of this metal found on Earth. In order to prevent vandalism, it was declared a national monument in 1955, because since its discovery, the mass of Goba has decreased by 6 tons. In 1987, the farm owner donated the meteorite and the land on which it is located to the state, and now the Namibian government monitors its safety.
2. Allende: the most studied among meteorites (Mexico).
Unsuspecting residents of the city of Chihuahua woke up around 1 a.m. on February 8, 1969. They were awakened by noise and a bright flash resulting from the fall of a 5-ton meteorite. Many fragments scattered over tens of kilometers, the total weight of which is estimated at 2-3 tons. The collected pieces “scattered” to institutes and museums around the world. Scientists say that Allende (Spanish: Allende) is the largest and most studied of the recorded carbonaceous meteorites. A report by American astrophysicists from the Livermore National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy states that the age of calcium-aluminum inclusions in which the meteorite is rich is approximately 4.6 billion years, that is, more than the age of any of the planets in the solar system.
3. Murchison meteorite: the most “living” meteorite found on Earth (Australia).
Named after the Australian city near which it fell in 1969, the Murchison meteorite is considered the most “alive” found on Earth. This is due to more than 14 thousand organic compounds that make up the 108-kilogram carbonaceous stone, including at least 70 different amino acids. Research led by Philipp Schmitt-Koplin from the Institute of Environmental Chemistry in Germany claims that the meteorite contains millions of different types of organic molecules, which proves the existence of amino acids beyond our planet. Scientists estimate that the meteorite is 4.65 billion years old, meaning it formed before the appearance of the Sun, which is estimated to be 4.57 billion years old.
4. Sikhote-Alin meteorite: one of the largest observed during its fall (Russia).
One of the largest meteorites in the world fell in the Primorsky Territory in the Sikhote-Alin mountains in February 1947. The dazzling fireball it caused was observed in Khabarovsk and other populated areas within a radius of 400 km. An iron body weighing 23 tons disintegrated in the atmosphere into many fragments in the form of a meteor shower. The debris formed more than 30 craters on the Earth's surface ranging from 7 to 28 m in diameter and up to 6 meters deep. The largest fragment of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite weighs about 1745 kg. Pilots of the Far Eastern Geological Department were the first to report the location of the celestial body's fall. Chemical analysis showed a 94% proportion of iron in the meteorite.
5. ALH84001: the most famous Martian meteorite (Antarctica).
Under this name lies perhaps the most famous of the 34 Martian meteorites found on Earth. It was discovered on December 27, 1984 in the Alan Hills Mountains in Antarctica (the name of the mountains is recorded in the name with a three-letter abbreviation). According to studies, the age of the alien body ranges from 3.9 to 4.5 billion years. The meteorite, whose weight is 1.93 kg, fell to Earth about 13 thousand years ago. There is a hypothesis according to which it broke off from the surface of Mars during a collision of the planet with a large cosmic body. In 1996, NASA scientists released sensational data suggesting the existence of traces of life on Mars. When scanning the structures of the meteorite with a scanning electron microscope, microscopic structures were identified that can also be interpreted as fossilized traces of bacteria.
6. Tunguska meteorite: the most “powerful” meteorite (Russia)
One of the most famous meteorites in the world hit the Earth in 1908, exploding at an altitude of 5 - 7 kilometers above Eastern Siberia. An explosion with a power of 40 megatons knocked down trees over an area of more than 2 thousand square kilometers in the area of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. Its blast wave circled the globe twice, leaving behind a glow in the sky for several days. In addition, a powerful magnetic storm that lasted five hours completed a series of consequences of the cataclysm.
When they start mentioning this meteorite, they often remember this person:
7. Chelyabinsk meteorite: No. 2 after Tunguska (Russia)
According to NASA estimates, the Chelyabinsk meteorite is the largest known celestial body to fall to Earth after the Tunguska meteorite. They started talking about it on February 15 and continue to discuss it six months later. Exploding in the sky above Chelyabinsk at an altitude of 23 km, the meteorite caused a powerful shock wave, which, as in the case of the Tunguska meteorite, circled the globe twice. Before the explosion, the meteorite weighed about 10 thousand tons and had a diameter of 17 meters, and afterward it shattered into hundreds of fragments, the largest of which weighed up to half a ton. The space guest, who brought world fame to the region, is planned to be immortalized in the form of a monument. By the way The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -
Astrophysicists from Canada claim that the mass of the stream of meteorites bombarding our long-suffering planet exceeds 21 tons per year. But in most cases this goes unnoticed, since a person can observe and find meteorites only in the habitable zone.
The share of land on the Earth's surface is only 29%; the rest of the planet is occupied by the World Ocean. But even from this 29% it is necessary to take away places that are not inhabited by humans or are completely unsuitable for habitation. Therefore, finding a meteorite is a great success. However, there was a case when a meteorite itself found a person.
The case of a meteorite colliding with a person
In the entire history of celestial bodies falling to Earth, only one officially documented case of direct contact of a meteorite with a person is known.
It happened in the USA on November 30, 1954. A four-kilogram meteorite broke through the roof of a house and injured the owner’s leg. This means that there is still a risk that a more serious guest from outer space could fall on people’s heads. I wonder what the largest meteorite fell on our planet?
Meteorites are divided into three categories: stony, stony-iron and iron. And each of these categories has its own giants.
The largest stone meteorite
Relatively recently, on March 8, 1976, space presented the Chinese with a gift in the form of stones falling to the surface of the earth for 37 minutes. One of the fallen specimens weighed 1.77 tons. It was the largest meteorite that fell to earth, having the structure of a stone. The incident occurred near the Chinese province of Jilin. The space guest received the same name.
To this day, the Jilin meteorite remains the largest rock meteorite discovered on earth.
Largest ironstone meteorite
The largest representative of the category of iron-stone meteorites weighed 1.5 tons. It was found in 1805 in Germany.
A fellow German meteorite, found in Australia, weighed only 100 kg less than the German one.
But everyone was surpassed by the iron guest from space, whose weight was tens of times greater than all previously found meteorites.
Largest iron meteorite
In 1920, an iron meteorite with a diameter of 2.7 meters and weighing over 66 tons was discovered in southwestern Namibia! A larger specimen than this has never been found on our planet. It turned out to be the largest meteorite to fall to Earth. It was named after the Goba West farm, whose owner came across it while cultivating a field. The approximate age of the iron block is 80 thousand years.
Today it is the largest solid block of natural iron.
In 1955, the largest meteorite that fell to earth, Goba, was declared a national monument and taken under state protection. This was a necessary measure, since over the 35 years that the meteorite was in the public domain, it lost 6 tons in mass. Part of the weight was lost as a result of natural processes - erosion. But numerous tourists made the main contribution to the “weight loss” process. Now you can approach the celestial body only under supervision and for a fee.
The meteorites mentioned above are, of course, the largest in their category ever discovered. But the question of which largest meteorite fell to earth remained open.
The meteorite that killed the dinosaurs
Everyone knows the sad story of the extinction of dinosaurs. Scientists are still arguing about the cause of their death, but the version that a meteorite was the culprit of the tragedy remains the main one.
According to scientists, 65 million years ago the Earth was hit by a huge meteorite, which caused a catastrophe on a planetary scale. The meteorite fell on the territory that now belongs to Mexico - the Yucotan Peninsula, near the village of Chicxulub. Evidence of this fall was the impact crater found in 1970. But since the depression was filled with sedimentary rocks, they did not carefully examine the meteorite. And only 20 years later scientists returned to study it.
As a result of the work, it turned out that the crater left by the meteorite has a diameter of 180 km. The diameter of the meteorite itself was about 10 km. The impact energy during the fall was 100,000 Gtv (this is comparable to the simultaneous explosion of 2,000,000 of the largest thermonuclear charges).
It is assumed that a tsunami was formed as a result of the meteorite impact, the wave height varied from 50 to 100 meters. The dust particles raised during the impact tightly blocked the Earth from the Sun for several years, which led to a sharp climate change. and periodic large-scale fires aggravated the situation. An analogue of nuclear winter has arrived on the planet. As a result of the disaster, 75% of animal and plant species became extinct.
Nevertheless, officially the Chicxulub meteorite is the largest meteorite that fell to earth 65 million years ago. He practically destroyed all life on the planet. But in history it ranks only third in size.
First among the giants
Presumably 2 billion years ago, a meteorite fell on Earth, leaving a mark 300 km in diameter on its surface. The meteorite itself supposedly had a diameter of more than 15 km.
The crater left after the fall is located in South Africa, in the Free State province, and is called Vredefort. This is the largest impact crater, and was left by the largest meteorite that fell to Earth in the entire history of our planet. In 2005, the Vredefort Crater was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The largest meteorite that fell to Earth did not leave a photo as a souvenir, but a huge scar in the form of a crater on the surface of our planet will not allow us to forget about it.
It has been noted that the fall of meteorites, the size of which is measured at least tens of meters, occurs with a periodicity of hundreds of years. And larger meteorites fall even less frequently.
According to scientists, a new guest wants to visit Earth in 2029.
Meteorite named Apophis
The meteorite that threatens our planet was named Apophis (that was the name of the snake god, who was the antipode of the sun god Ra in Ancient Egypt). It is not known for certain whether it will fall to Earth or miss and pass near the planet. But what happens if a collision does occur?
Scenario of Apophis colliding with Earth
So, it is known that the diameter of Apophis is only 320 meters. When it falls to Earth, there will be an explosion equal in power to the 15,000 bombs dropped on Hiroshima.
If Apophis hits the mainland, an impact crater will appear, having a depth of 400-500 meters and a diameter of up to 5 km. The resulting explosion will destroy permanent structures at a distance of 50 km from the epicenter. Buildings that do not have the strength of a brick house will be destroyed at a distance of 100-150 km. The column of dust will rise to a height of several kilometers and then cover the entire planet.
Stories spread by the media about nuclear winter and the end of the world are too exaggerated. The size of the meteorite is too small for such consequences. The temperature may drop by 1-2 degrees, but after six months it will return to normal. That is, the predicted catastrophe, if it does happen, will be far from global.
If Apophis falls into the ocean, which is more likely, a tsunami will occur that will cover coastal areas. The height of the wave will depend on the distance between the shore and the location of the meteorite fall. The initial wave can be up to 500 meters high, but if Apophis falls in the center of the ocean, then the wave reaching the shore will not exceed 10-20 meters. Although this is also quite serious. The storm will continue for several hours. All these events should be considered only as possible with some degree of probability. So will Apophis collide with our planet or not?
The probability of Apophis falling to Earth
Apophis will theoretically threaten our planet twice. The first time - in 2029, and then - in 2036. After conducting observations using radar installations, a group of scientists completely ruled out the possibility of a meteorite colliding with the earth. As for 2036, today the chance of a meteorite colliding with the Earth is 1:250,000. And every year, as the accuracy of calculations increases, the probability of a collision decreases.
But even with this probability, various options for forcing Apophis to deviate from course are being considered. Apophis is thus an object of interest rather than threat.
In conclusion, I would like to note that meteorites are severely destroyed when entering the earth’s atmosphere. When approaching the Earth, the speed of the fall of guests from space is 10-70 km/sec, and upon contact with a gaseous atmosphere, which has a fairly high density, the temperature of the meteorite increases to critical, and it simply burns up or is very badly destroyed. Thus, the atmosphere of our planet is the best protector against uninvited guests.
Meteors are particles of interplanetary material that pass through the Earth's atmosphere and become incandescently heated by friction. These objects are called meteoroids and speed through space, becoming meteors. In a few seconds they cross the sky, creating luminous trails.
Meteor showers
Scientists estimate that 44 tons of meteorite material falls to Earth every day. Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night. Sometimes the number increases sharply - these phenomena are called meteor showers. Some occur annually or at regular intervals when the Earth passes through a trail of dusty debris left behind by a comet.
Leonids meteor shower
Meteor showers are typically named after the star or constellation that is closest to where the meteors appear in the sky. Perhaps the most famous are the Perseids, which appear on August 12 each year. Each Perseid meteor is a tiny piece of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which takes 135 years to orbit the Sun.
Other meteor showers and associated comets are the Leonids (Tempel-Tuttle), the Aquarids and Orionids (Halley), and the Taurids (Encke). Most of the comet dust in meteor showers burns up in the atmosphere before reaching the Earth's surface. Some of this dust is captured by airplanes and analyzed in NASA laboratories.
Meteorites
Pieces of rock and metal from asteroids and other cosmic bodies that survive their journey through the atmosphere and fall to earth are called meteorites. Most meteorites found on Earth are pebbly, fist-sized, but some are larger than buildings. Once upon a time, the Earth experienced many serious meteorite attacks that caused significant destruction.
One of the best-preserved craters is the Barringer meteorite crater in Arizona, about 1 km (0.6 mi) in diameter, created by the fall of a piece of iron-nickel metal approximately 50 meters (164 ft) in diameter. It is 50,000 years old and so well preserved that it is used to study meteorite impacts. Since the site was recognized as such an impact crater in 1920, about 170 craters have been found on Earth.
Barringer Meteor Crater
A severe asteroid impact 65 million years ago that created the 300-kilometer-wide (180-mile) Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan Peninsula contributed to the extinction of about 75 percent of marine and land animals on Earth at the time, including dinosaurs.
There is little documented evidence of meteorite damage or death. In the first known case, an extraterrestrial object injured a person in the United States. Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, was injured after a 3.6 kilogram (8 lb) rock meteorite struck the roof of her home in November 1954.
Meteorites can look like rocks on Earth, but they usually have a burnt surface. This burnt crust appears as a result of the meteorite melting due to friction as it passes through the atmosphere. There are three main types of meteorites: silvery, stony and stony-silver. Although most meteorites that fall to Earth are stony, more meteorites discovered recently are silvery. These heavy objects are easier to distinguish from Earth's rocks than stony meteorites.
This image of a meteorite was taken by the Opportunity rover in September 2010.
Meteorites also fall on other bodies in the solar system. The Opportunity rover was exploring different types of meteorites on another planet when it discovered a basketball-sized iron-nickel meteorite on Mars in 2005, and then found a much larger and heavier iron-nickel meteorite in 2009 in the same area. In total, the Opportunity rover discovered six meteorites during its journey to Mars.
Sources of meteorites
More than 50,000 meteorites have been found on Earth. Of these, 99.8% came from the Asteroid Belt. Evidence of their asteroid origin includes the meteorite's impact orbit calculated from photographic observations and projected back onto the asteroid belt. Analysis of several classes of meteorites showed a coincidence with some classes of asteroids and they also have an age of 4.5 to 4.6 billion years.
Researchers have discovered a new meteorite in Antarctica
However, we can only match one group of meteorites to a specific type of asteroid - eucrite, diogenite and howardite. These igneous meteorites originate from the third largest asteroid, Vesta. Asteroids and meteorites that fall to Earth are not parts of a planet that has broken up, but are composed of the original materials from which the planets formed. The study of meteorites tells us about the conditions and processes during the formation and early history of the Solar System, such as the age and composition of the solids, the nature of the organic matter, the temperatures reached on the surface and inside the asteroids, and the form into which these materials were reduced by impact.
The remaining 0.2 percent of meteorites can be divided roughly equally between meteorites from Mars and the Moon. More than 60 known Martian meteorites have been ejected from Mars in meteor showers. They are all igneous rocks that crystallized from magma. The rocks are very similar to those on Earth, with some distinctive features that indicate Martian origin. Nearly 80 lunar meteorites are similar in mineralogy and composition to moon rocks from the Apollo mission, but different enough to show they came from different parts of the moon. Studies of lunar and Martian meteorites complement studies of lunar rocks from the Apollo mission and robotic exploration of Mars.
Types of meteorites
Quite often, an ordinary person, imagining what a meteorite looks like, thinks about iron. And it's easy to explain. Iron meteorites are dense, very heavy, and often take on unusual, and even spectacular, shapes as they fall and melt through our planet's atmosphere. And although most people associate iron with the typical composition of space rocks, iron meteorites are one of the three main types of meteorites. And they are quite rare compared to stony meteorites, especially the most common group of them, single chondrites.
Three main types of meteorites
There are a large number of types of meteorites, divided into three main groups: iron, stony, stony-iron. Almost all meteorites contain extraterrestrial nickel and iron. Those that contain no iron at all are so rare that even if we asked for help identifying possible space rocks, we likely wouldn't find anything that didn't contain large amounts of the metal. The classification of meteorites is, in fact, based on the amount of iron contained in the sample.
The iron meteorites were part of the core of a long-dead planet or large asteroid that is believed to have formed the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. They are the densest materials on Earth and are very strongly attracted to a strong magnet. Iron meteorites are much heavier than most Earth rocks; if you've lifted a cannonball or a slab of iron or steel, you know what we're talking about.
Example of an iron meteorite
For most samples in this group, the iron component is approximately 90%-95%, the rest is nickel and trace elements. Iron meteorites are divided into classes based on chemical composition and structure. Structural classes are determined by studying two components of iron-nickel alloys: kamacite and taenite.
These alloys have a complex crystalline structure known as the Widmanstätten structure, named after Count Alois von Widmanstätten who described the phenomenon in the 19th century. This lattice-like structure is very beautiful and is clearly visible if the iron meteorite is cut into plates, polished and then etched in a weak solution of nitric acid. In kamacite crystals discovered during this process, the average width of the bands is measured, and the resulting figure is used to divide iron meteorites into structural classes. Iron with a fine stripe (less than 1 mm) is called “fine-structured octahedrite”, with a wide stripe “coarse octahedrite”.
Stone meteorites
The largest group of meteorites are stony ones, which formed from the outer crust of a planet or asteroid. Many rocky meteorites, especially those that have been on the surface of our planet for a long time, look very much like ordinary terrestrial rocks, and it takes an experienced eye to find such a meteorite in the field. Newly fallen rocks have a black, shiny surface that results from the surface burning in flight, and the vast majority of rocks contain enough iron to be attracted to a powerful magnet.
A typical representative of chondrites
Some stony meteorites contain small, colorful, grain-like inclusions known as "chondrules." These tiny grains originated from the solar nebula, therefore predating the formation of our planet and the entire Solar System, making them the oldest known matter available for study. Stony meteorites containing these chondrules are called "chondrites".
Space rocks without chondrules are called "achondrites." These are volcanic rocks formed by volcanic activity on their “parent” space objects, where melting and recrystallization erased all traces of ancient chondrules. Achondrites contain little or no iron, making it more difficult to find than other meteorites, although specimens are often coated with a glossy crust that looks like enamel paint.
Stone meteorites from the Moon and Mars
Can we really find Moon and Martian rocks on the surface of our own planet? The answer is yes, but they are extremely rare. More than one hundred thousand lunar and approximately thirty Martian meteorites have been discovered on Earth, all of which belong to the achondrite group.
Lunar meteorite
The collision of the surface of the Moon and Mars with other meteorites threw fragments into outer space and some of them fell to Earth. From a financial point of view, lunar and Martian samples are among the most expensive meteorites. In collector's markets, their price reaches thousands of dollars per gram, making them several times more expensive than if they were made of gold.
Stony-iron meteorites
The least common of the three main types is stony-iron, accounting for less than 2% of all known meteorites. They consist of approximately equal parts of iron-nickel and stone, and are divided into two classes: pallasite and mesosiderite. Stony-iron meteorites formed at the boundary of the crust and mantle of their “parent” bodies.
Example of a stony-iron meteorite
Pallasites are perhaps the most alluring of all meteorites and are definitely of great interest to private collectors. Pallasite consists of an iron-nickel matrix filled with olivine crystals. When olivine crystals are clear enough to display an emerald green color, they are known as a perodot gemstone. Pallasites got their name in honor of the German zoologist Peter Pallas, who described the Russian Krasnoyarsk meteorite, found near the capital of Siberia in the 18th century. When a pallasite crystal is cut into slabs and polished, it becomes translucent, giving it an ethereal beauty.
Mesosiderites are the smaller of the two lithic-iron groups. They are composed of iron-nickel and silicates, and are usually attractive in appearance. The high contrast of the silver and black matrix, when the plate is cut and sanded, and the occasional inclusions, results in a very unusual appearance. The word mesosiderite comes from the Greek for "half" and "iron" and they are very rare. In thousands of official catalogs of meteorites, there are less than a hundred mesosiderites.
Classification of meteorites
The classification of meteorites is a complex and technical subject and the above is intended only as a brief overview of the topic. Classification methods have changed several times over the years; known meteorites were reclassified into another class.
Martian meteorites
A Martian meteorite is a rare type of meteorite that came from the planet Mars. Until November 2009, more than 24,000 meteors had been found on Earth, but only 34 of them were from Mars. The Martian origin of the meteors was known from the composition of the isotopic gas contained in the meteors in microscopic quantities; an analysis of the Martian atmosphere was carried out by the Viking spacecraft.
The emergence of the Martian meteorite Nakhla
In 1911, the first Martian meteorite, called Nakhla, was found in the Egyptian desert. The occurrence and belonging of the meteorite to Mars was established much later. And they established its age - 1.3 billion years. These stones appeared in space after large asteroids fell on Mars or during massive volcanic eruptions. The force of the explosion was such that the ejected pieces of rock acquired the speed necessary to overcome the gravity of the planet Mars and leave its orbit (5 km/s). Nowadays, up to 500 kg of Martian rocks fall to Earth in one year.
Two parts of the Nakhla meteorite
In August 1996, the journal Science published an article about a study of the ALH 84001 meteorite, found in Antarctica in 1984. A new work has begun, centered around a meteorite discovered in an Antarctic glacier. The study was carried out using a scanning electron microscope and revealed "biogenic structures" inside the meteor that could theoretically have been formed by life on Mars.
The isotope date demonstrated that the meteor appeared about 4.5 billion years ago, and having entered interplanetary space, fell to Earth 13 thousand years ago.
"Biogenic structures" discovered on a meteorite section
By studying the meteor using an electron microscope, experts found microscopic fossils that suggested bacterial colonies made up of individual parts measuring approximately 100 nanometers in volume. Traces of drugs produced during the decomposition of microorganisms were also found. Proof of a Martian meteor requires microscopic examination and special chemical analyses. A specialist can attest to the Martian occurrence of a meteor based on the presence of minerals, oxides, phosphates of calcium, silicon and iron sulfide.
The known specimens are invaluable finds because they represent quintessential time capsules from Mars' geological past. We obtained these Martian meteorites without any space missions.
The largest meteorites that fell to Earth
From time to time, cosmic bodies fall to Earth... more and less, made of stone or metal. Some of them are no larger than a grain of sand, others weigh several hundred kilograms or even tons. Scientists at the Astrophysical Institute of Ottawa (Canada) claim that several hundred solid alien bodies with a total mass of more than 21 tons visit our planet every year. The weight of most meteorites does not exceed a few grams, but there are also those that weigh several hundred kilograms or even tons.
The places where meteorites fall are either fenced off or, on the contrary, opened for public viewing so that everyone can touch the extraterrestrial “guest”.
Some people confuse comets and meteorites due to the fact that both of these celestial bodies have a fiery shell. In ancient times, people considered comets and meteorites to be a bad omen. People tried to avoid the places where meteorites fell, considering them a cursed zone. Fortunately, in our time, such cases are no longer observed, but on the contrary - the places where meteorites fall are of great interest to the inhabitants of the planet.
Let's remember the 10 largest meteorites that fell on our planet.
The meteorite fell on our planet on April 22, 2012, the speed of the fireball was 29 km/sec. Flying over the states of California and Nevada, the meteorite scattered its burning fragments over tens of kilometers and exploded in the sky over the US capital. The power of the explosion is relatively small - 4 kilotons (in TNT equivalent). For comparison, the explosion of the famous Chelyabinsk meteorite had a power of 300 kilotons of TNT.
According to scientists, the Sutter Mill meteorite was formed at the birth of our solar system, a cosmic body more than 4566.57 million years ago.
On February 11, 2012, hundreds of tiny meteorite stones flew over the territory of the People's Republic of China and fell over an area of over 100 km in the southern regions of China. The largest of them weighed about 12.6 kg. According to scientists, the meteorites came from the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.
On September 15, 2007, a meteorite fell near Lake Titicaca (Peru) near the Bolivian border. According to eyewitnesses, the event was preceded by loud noise. Then they saw a body engulfed in fire falling. The meteorite left a bright trail in the sky and a stream of smoke, which was visible several hours after the fireball fell.
A huge crater, 30 meters in diameter and 6 meters deep, formed at the crash site. The meteorite contained toxic substances, as people living nearby began to have headaches.
Stone meteorites (92% of the total) consisting of silicates most often fall to Earth. The Chelyabinsk meteorite is an exception; it was iron.
The meteorite fell on June 20, 1998 near the Turkmen city of Kunya-Urgench, hence its name. Before the fall, local residents saw a bright flash. The largest part of the car weighs 820 kg; this piece fell into a field and formed a 5-meter crater.
According to geologists, the age of this celestial body is about 4 billion years. The Kunya-Urgench meteorite is certified by the International Meteorite Society and is considered the largest of all fireballs that fell in the CIS and third world countries.
The Sterlitamak iron fireball, whose weight was more than 300 kg, fell on May 17, 1990 on a state farm field west of the city of Sterlitamak. When the celestial body fell, a crater of 10 meters was formed.
Initially, small metal fragments were discovered, but a year later scientists managed to extract the largest fragment of the meteorite weighing 315 kg. Currently, the meteorite is in the Museum of Ethnography and Archeology of the Ufa Scientific Center.
This event took place in March 1976 in Jilin province in eastern China. The largest meteor shower lasted more than half an hour. Cosmic bodies fell at a speed of 12 km per second.
Only a few months later, about a hundred meteorites were found, the largest - Jilin (Girin), weighed 1.7 tons.
This meteorite fell on February 12, 1947 in the Far East in the city of Sikhote-Alin. The bolide was crushed in the atmosphere into small iron pieces, which scattered over an area of 15 sq. km.
Several dozen craters with a depth of 1-6 meters and a diameter of 7 to 30 meters were formed. Geologists have collected several tens of tons of meteorite matter.
Goba meteorite (1920)
Meet Goba - one of the largest meteorites found! It fell to Earth 80 thousand years ago, but was found in 1920. A real giant made of iron weighed about 66 tons and had a volume of 9 cubic meters. Who knows what myths the people living at that time associated the fall of this meteorite with.
Composition of the meteorite. This celestial body is 80% iron and is considered the heaviest of all meteorites that have ever fallen on our planet. Scientists took samples, but did not transport the entire meteorite. Today it is located at the crash site. This is one of the largest pieces of iron on Earth of extraterrestrial origin. The meteorite is constantly decreasing: erosion, vandalism and scientific research have taken their toll: the meteorite has decreased by 10%.
A special fence was created around it and now Goba is known throughout the planet, many tourists come to it.
The Mystery of the Tunguska Meteor (1908)
The most famous Russian meteorite. In the summer of 1908, a huge fireball flew over the territory of the Yenisei. The meteorite exploded at an altitude of 10 km above the taiga. The blast wave circled the Earth twice and was recorded by all observatories.
The power of the explosion is simply monstrous and is estimated at 50 megatons. The flight of the space giant is hundreds of kilometers per second. Weight, according to various estimates, varies - from 100 thousand to one million tons!
Fortunately, no one was hurt. A meteorite exploded over the taiga. In nearby settlements, a window was broken by the blast wave.
Trees fell as a result of the explosion. Forest territory of 2,000 sq. turned into rubble. The blast wave killed animals within a radius of more than 40 km. For several days, artifacts were observed over the territory of central Siberia - luminous clouds and a glow in the sky. According to scientists, this was caused by noble gases that were released when the meteorite entered the Earth's atmosphere.
What was it? The meteorite would have left a huge crater at the crash site, at least 500 meters deep. Not a single expedition has been able to find anything like this...
The Tunguska meteor, on the one hand, is a well-studied phenomenon, on the other, one of the biggest mysteries. The celestial body exploded in the air, the pieces burned up in the atmosphere, and there were no remains left on Earth.
The working name “Tunguska meteorite” appeared because this is the simplest and most understandable explanation of the flying burning ball that caused the explosion effect. The Tunguska meteorite has been called a crashed alien ship, a natural anomaly, and a gas explosion. What it was in reality, one can only guess and build hypotheses.
Meteor shower in the USA (1833)
On November 13, 1833, a meteorite shower occurred over the eastern United States. The duration of the meteor shower is 10 hours! During this time, about 240 thousand small and medium-sized meteorites fell on the surface of our planet. The meteor shower of 1833 is the most powerful meteor shower known.
Every day, dozens of meteorite showers fly near our planet. About 50 potentially dangerous comets are known that can cross the Earth's orbit. Collisions of our planet with small (not capable of causing much harm) cosmic bodies occur once every 10-15 years. A particular danger for our planet is the fall of an asteroid.
Chelyabinsk meteorite
Almost two years have passed since the South Urals witnessed a cosmic cataclysm - the fall of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which became the first time in modern history that caused significant damage to the local population.
The asteroid fell in 2013, on February 15. At first, it seemed to the South Urals that an “obscure object” had exploded; many saw strange lightning lighting up the sky. This is the conclusion reached by scientists who studied this incident for a year.
Meteorite Data
A fairly ordinary comet fell in an area near Chelyabinsk. Falls of space objects of precisely this nature occur once every century. Although, according to other sources, they happen repeatedly, on average up to 5 times every 100 years. According to scientists, comets with a size of about 10 m fly into the atmosphere of our Earth approximately once a year, which is 2 times larger than the Chelyabinsk meteorite, but this often happens over regions with a small population or over the oceans. Moreover, comets burn up and collapse at great heights, without causing any damage.
Plume from the Chelyabinsk meteorite in the sky
Before the fall, the mass of the Chelyabinsk aerolite was from 7 to 13 thousand tons, and its parameters supposedly reached 19.8 m. After analyzing, scientists found out that only about 0.05% of the initial mass fell to the surface of the earth, that’s 4-6 tons. Currently, a little more than one ton has been collected from this amount, including one of the large fragments of aerolite weighing 654 kg, raised from the bottom of Chebarkul Lake.
A study of the Chelyabinsk maetorite based on geochemical parameters revealed that it belongs to the type of ordinary chondrites of class LL5. This is the most common subgroup of stony meteorites. All currently discovered meteorites, about 90%, are chondrites. They got their name due to the presence of chondrules in them - spherical fused formations with a diameter of 1 mm.
Indications from infrasound stations indicate that in the minute of strong braking of the Chelyabinsk aerolite, when approximately 90 km remained to the ground, a powerful explosion occurred with a force equal to the TNT equivalent of 470-570 kilotons, which is 20-30 times stronger than the atomic explosion in Hiroshima, but in terms of explosive power it is less than the fall of the Tunguska meteorite (approximately from 10 to 50 megatons) by more than 10 times.
The fall of the Chelyabinsk meteorite immediately created a sensation both in time and place. In modern history, this space object is the first meteorite to fall into such a densely populated area, resulting in significant damage. So, during the meteorite explosion, the windows of more than 7 thousand houses were broken, more than one and a half thousand people sought medical help, of which 112 were hospitalized.
In addition to significant damage, the meteorite also brought positive results. This event is the best documented event to date. In addition, one video camera recorded the phase of the fall of one of the large fragments of the asteroid into Lake Chebarkul.
Where did the Chelyabinsk meteorite come from?
For scientists, this question was not particularly difficult. It emerged from our solar system's main asteroid belt, a zone in the middle of the orbits of Jupiter and Mars where the paths of most small bodies lie. The orbits of some of them, for example, the asteroids of the Aten or Apollo group, are elongated and can pass through the orbit of the Earth.
Astronomers were able to quite accurately determine the flight trajectory of the Chelyabinsk resident, thanks to many photo and video recordings, as well as satellite photographs that captured the fall. Then astronomers continued the path of the meteorite in the opposite direction, beyond the atmosphere, in order to build the complete orbit of this object.
Dimensions of fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite
Several groups of astronomers tried to determine the path of the Chelyabinsk meteorite before it hit the Earth. According to their calculations, it can be seen that the semimajor axis of the orbit of the fallen meteorite was approximately 1.76 AU. (astronomical unit), this is the average radius of the Earth's orbit; the point of the orbit closest to the Sun - perihelion, was at a distance of 0.74 AU, and the point most distant from the Sun - aphelion, or apohelion, was at 2.6 AU.
These figures allowed scientists to try to find the Chelyabinsk meteorite in astronomical catalogs of already identified small space objects. It is clear that most of the previously identified asteroids, after some time, “fall out of sight” again, and then some of the “lost” ones manage to be “discovered” a second time. Astronomers did not reject this option, that the fallen meteorite may be the “lost one.”
Relatives of the Chelyabinsk meteorite
Although complete similarities were not revealed during the search, astronomers still found a number of probable “relatives” of the asteroid from Chelyabinsk. Scientists from Spain Raul and Carlos de la Fluente Marcos, having calculated all the variations in the orbits of the “Chelyabinsk”, found its supposed forefather - asteroid 2011 EO40. In their opinion, the Chelyabinsk meteorite broke away from it for about 20-40 thousand years.
Another team (Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) led by Jiri Borovička, having calculated the glide path of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, found that it is very similar to the orbit of asteroid 86039 (1999 NC43) with a size of 2.2 km. For example, the semimajor axis of the orbit of both objects is 1.72 and 1.75 AU, and the perihelion distance is 0.738 and 0.74.
Difficult life path
Based on the fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite that fell to the surface of the earth, scientists “determined” its life history. It turns out that the Chelyabinsk meteorite is the same age as our solar system. When studying the proportions of uranium and lead isotopes, it was found that it is approximately 4.45 billion years old.
A fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite discovered on Lake Chebarkul
His difficult biography is indicated by dark threads in the thickness of the meteorite. They arose when substances that got inside as a result of a strong impact melted. This shows that approximately 290 million years ago this asteroid survived a powerful collision with some kind of space object.
According to scientists from the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry named after. Vernadsky RAS, the collision took approximately several minutes. This is indicated by leaks of iron nuclei that did not have time to completely melt.
At the same time, scientists from the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy SB RAS (Institute of Geology and Mineralogy) do not reject the fact that traces of melting may have appeared due to the excessive proximity of the cosmic body to the Sun.
Meteor showers
Several times a year, meteor showers light up the clear night sky like stars. But they actually have nothing to do with the stars. These small cosmic particles of meteorites are literally celestial trash.
Meteoroid, meteor or meteorite?
Whenever a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it generates a flash of light called a meteor or "shooting star." High temperatures caused by friction between the meteor and gas in the Earth's atmosphere heat the meteorite to the point where it begins to glow. This is the same glow that makes a meteor visible from the surface of the Earth.
Meteors usually glow for a very short period of time - they tend to burn up completely before hitting the Earth's surface. If a meteor does not disintegrate as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere and falls to the surface, then it is known as a meteorite. The meteorites are believed to come from the Asteroid Belt, although some pieces of debris have been identified as coming from the Moon and Mars.
What are meteor showers?
Sometimes meteors fall in huge showers known as meteor showers. Meteor showers occur when a comet approaches the Sun and leaves debris behind in the form of “breadcrumbs.” When the orbits of the Earth and a comet intersect, a meteor shower hits the Earth.
So the meteors that form a meteor shower travel on a parallel path and at the same speed, so for observers they come from the same point in the sky. This point is known as the "radiant". By convention, meteor showers, especially regular ones, are named after the constellation from which they come.
