From hot to cold

Part of Hall of Meteorites.

Museum wall text entitled "From Hot to Cold" with additional information panels about the chemical composition of meteorites.

The chemical composition of each meteorite provides clues to where its parent body resided in the solar system.

In This Section

Exhibit Orgueil Orgueil might come from the core of a comet, an object made of ice, dust and rock that orbits the Sun at high speed. Exhibit Abee Iron will remain in a metallic state unless it is exposed to a substance like water, which "oxidizes" the metal.  Exhibit Allende (AMNH 4328) The outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—formed in the coolest part of the early solar nebula. Exhibit Renfrow Found 1986 Grant County, Oklahoma, USA Exhibit Fisher Fell April 9, 1894 Polk County, Minnesota, USA Exhibit Wikenburg Found 1940 Maricopa County, Arizona, USA Exhibit Oakley (stone) Oakley is an example of a meteorite that formed at an intermediate distance from the Sun (ordinary chondrites). Exhibit Melrose (A) An example of a meteorite that formed at an intermediate distance from the Sun (ordinary chondrites).