Geologic map of the asteroid belt. Circles identify the asteroid families from which our meteorites originate and letters mark the corresponding meteorite type. The horizontal axis ranges from short ...

Where do meteorites of different type come from? In a review paper, astronomers trace the impact orbit of observed meteorite falls to several previously unidentified source regions in the asteroid ...

Until now, only a small fraction of meteorites that land on Earth had been firmly linked back to their parent body out in space – but a set of new studies has just given us compelling origin stories ...

For a long time, scientists assumed that Earth's water was delivered by asteroids and comets billions of years ago. This coincided with the Late Heavy Bombardment (ca. 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago), a ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration shows a field of tiny space rocks with Earth in the background. | Credit: Robert ...

El Médano 128 meteorite, an ordinary chondrite (group L), found in the Atacama desert in 2011 by a team of researchers from the Centre de recherche et d'enseignement ...

The universe is a vast expanse filled with wonder, and among its most intriguing entities are meteorites. These celestial bodies, which fall to Earth, offer vital insights into the history and ...

Most of the meteorites that land on Earth today can be traced back to just three recent collisions out in the asteroid belt, according to a pair of recent studies. It’s hard to trace meteorites back ...

Around 4.6 billion years ago, the universe was a chaos of collapsing gas and spinning debris. Small particles of gas and dust clumped together into larger and more massive meteoroids that in turn ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

“Meteorites” are space rocks that have survived passage through Earth’s atmosphere and have landed on the planet’s surface. They’re different than “meteoroids” (space rocks outside the Earth’s ...