Test your meteorite identification skills on the samples below! These are all rocks that we've received for meteorite identification.
Yes, this rock is a meteorite! You can see the remains of the black glassy fusion crust on the outer edge of the sample, and there are lots of chondrules visible on the cut face.
This meteorite is NWA 16801, an LL3 chondrite.
Yes, these rocks are a meteorite! Although they don't look like much, these are pieces of an outer solar system carbonaceous chondrite. The little white grains inside them are calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions, or CAIs - the first solids to form in the solar system!
This meteorite is NWA 17272, a CM2 carbonaceous chondrite
No, this rock is not a meteorite! This rock is a hydrothermally altered basalt. We measured the mineral compositions and couldn't find any meteorite-specific features. We even compared it to the local geology of where it was collected and found that it is a perfect match.
This stone is one of the most convincing meteorwrongs that has been sent to us so far!
Yes, these rocks are meteorites! The fusion crust has been eroded away and replaced with a "desert varnish" but when we cut them open we were greeted with some beautiful chondrules and impact melt.
This meteorite is NWA 16794, an L6 chondrite.
No, this rock is not a meteorite. This is a very weathered rock from Minnesota and we could tell it's not a meteorite by pits that formed during weathering, the presence of calcite veins visible on the outer surface, as well as some other factors.
We're very grateful to the person who brought this in for us to look at, and encouraged them to keep looking!
Yes, this rock is a meteorite! There's no fusion crust left, but in the gaps in the desert varnish we could see an igneous texture and impact melt veins. When we cut it open to prepare it for analysis, we were able to confirm that this is an achondrite meteorite.
This meteorite is NWA 17067, a eucrite breccia.