Meteorite Types

Meteorites are bits of the solar system that have fallen to the Earth. Most come from asteroids, including few are believed to have come specifically from 4 Vesta; a few probably come from comets. A small number of meteorites have been shown to be of Lunar (15 finds) or Martian (13) origin.

Iron
	Primarily iron and nickel; similar to type M asteroids

Stony Iron
	Mixtures of iron and stony material like type S asteroids

Chondrite
	By far the largest number of meteorites fall into this class; similar in composition to the mantles and crusts of the terrestrial planets

Carbonaceous Chondrite
	Very similar in composition to the Sun less volatiles; similar to type C asteroids

Achondrite
	Similar to terrestrial basalts; the meteorites believed to have originated on the Moon and Mars are achondrites

Meteorite Statistics

Type	Fall %	Find %	Fall Weight	Find Weight
Stony	95.0	79.8	15200	8300
Stony-Iron	1.0	1.6	525	8600
Iron	4.0	18.6	27000	435000