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▲ NAKHLA
This stony meteorite is one of more than
30 found on Earth that originated on
Mars. It was blasted off the planet and
spent many millions of years in space
before landing in Egypt on 28 June 1911.◀ CANON DIABLO
This sliced and polished iron
meteorite is a piece of the asteroid
that produced the Barringer Crater
(below). The pieces found weigh
30 tonnes in total, yet they are only a
small fraction of the original asteroid.◀ TEKTITES
Small glassy bodies known as
tektites can form when a large
meteorite hits Earth. The impact shatters
and melts surrounding Earth rock, flinging it
upwards. It cools and hardens, falling
back to Earth as glassy pieces.▲ GIBEON
Iron meteorites are the second
most common type, after stony
meteorites. The Gibeon is mainly
iron with a small amount of nickel.
It is one of many found in Namibia
since the 1830s.▲ CALCALONG CREEK
More than 50 meteorites found
on Earth originated on the Moon,
blasted off by asteroid impact.
The Calcalong Creek meteorite,
found in Australia, is lunar surface
soil that was turned to rock by
such an impact.▼ IMPACT CRATER
Meteorites can produce craters when
they crash into Earth. The Barringer
Crater in the Arizona Desert, USA,
shown here under a rare blanket of
snow, measures 1.2 km (0.75 miles)
across and was formed about
50,000 years ago.144_145_Meteorites.indd 145 10/01/19 2:26 PM