Meteorites
Clues to Earth’s inner composition and age
Disintegrating planetary bodies scattered fragments (meteors) throughout our solar system. By studying meteorites (meteors that reach the earth), scientists relate them to Earth’s inner composition and identify them as either stony or metallic.
| Meteorites on exhibit | |
| Iron Meteorites | Odessa,
Texas. Possibly from a planetary core. Visitors may touch this meteorite. |
| Stony Meteorites | Chaves Co., New Mexico. Found in 1947. Made of olivine (silicate mineral with magnesium and iron); possibly from a planetary mantle. |
| Nickle-iron Meteorites | Arispe, Sonora, Mexico. Found in 1897. Possibly from a planetary core. When cut, polished, and coated with acid, acid dissolves iron minerals more rapidly then ones containing nickel and exposes distinct banding. These intersecting lines known as the Widmanstaten structure cannot be developed on Earth and prove that the sample is of meteoric origin. |