Meteorites

Part of Hall of Meteorites.

Hall of Meteorites with introductory panel C. Chesek/©AMNH

What if You Could Catch a Falling Star?

For thousands of years, people have been fascinated by streaks of light flashing across the night sky. These "shooting stars" are actually tiny grains of dust from space that burn up in Earth's atmosphere before reaching the ground. But hundreds of times a year, a rock called a meteorite survives the fiery trip from space and lands on Earth. A small fraction of these "fallen stars"—really fallen rocks—are recovered each year from around the globe.

The vast majority of meteorites are pieces of asteroids, the small rocky bodies that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. And while meteorites are not from stars, they contain vital clues that help scientists understand how stars like our Sun formed and how planets, including Earth, took shape more than four billion years ago.

Two introductory panels of the meteorites exhibition.
Introductory panels on both sides of the hall welcome visitors. One panel features the Esquel meteorite (left), the other showcases a lunar meteorite (right).
M. Shanley/©AMNH

 

In This Section

Exhibit Esquel Esquel and other pallasite meteorites are time capsules showing a jumbled patchwork of planetary building blocks. Collection Lunar Meteorite Lunar meteorites are fugitives from the violent impacts that have battered the Moon. Exhibit What Is a Meteorite? In simplest terms, a meteorite is a rock that falls to Earth from space. Exhibit Stone and iron from space Meteorites are all rocks from space, but they are not all alike. The meteorites known as irons, for example, are more than 98 percent... Exhibit Historic Meteorites See specimens that fell to Earth, from the 15th to 20th centuries, helping to increase our understanding of the cosmos. Exhibit Fragments of Cape York A total of seven fragments of the huge Cape York meteorite have been identified; three are on display here. Exhibit Ahnighito This huge piece of iron, known as Ahnighito, is actually just one portion of a much larger meteorite that fell to Earth from space. Exhibit Looking Inside Meteorites The inside of a meteorite is often more beautiful and interesting than the outside. Exhibit What Does a Meteorite Look Like? Meteorites on Earth look very different than they did drifting through space.