Meteoroids and Meteorites

This set of flashcards covers key terms and definitions related to meteoroids, meteorites, and their astronomical significance.

Meteoroid

A small, rocky, or metallic object found in space, often misinterpreted as shooting stars.

Meteorite

A meteoroid that makes it through the atmosphere and hits the ground.

Carbonaceous Meteorite

A type of meteoroid that is black or dark gray, made from debris of carbonaceous asteroids, and is approximately 4.4 to 4.6 billion years old.

Stony Meteorites

A classification of meteorites that look like ordinary rocks.

Iron Meteorites

Meteorites that are very dense and have a metallic appearance.

Stony-Iron Meteorites

The rarest forms of meteorites, containing both stony and metallic elements.

Meteor Showers

Swarms of meteoroids that travel together, crossing our orbit and appearing predictably a couple of times a year.

Barringer Crater

A notable crater located in Arizona created by a 200,000-ton meteoroid.

Tunguska Event

An explosion in 1908 attributed to a meteoroid that was as powerful as a 10 megaton nuclear bomb.

Allende Meteorite

A notable meteorite discovered in Mexico in 1969 that contains isotopes formed during supernova events.

Mass Extinctions

Extinctions caused by asteroids, including that which killed the dinosaurs due to dust blocking sunlight.

Collision

An event where larger meteoroids from the asteroid belt come to Earth due to a collision.