This can be a giveaway that your sample has come from outer space. If you have the means (and the safety specs), create a hole in your sample and see if you can spot any shiny metallic flakes. Bear in mind that other rock types can also not leave streaks, so while this is a good test to rule out some rock types, it is far from conclusive. Rocks that leave a black or red streak likely contain magnetite or hematite, which are not usually found in meteorites. After scratching the rock along an unglazed ceramic surface, there should be no streaks left behind. Properties of meteorites that are useful in identification. In other words meteorites are typically heavier than Earth rocks of the same size. These might take a practiced eye to find, but can be an intriguing characteristic of meteorites.Īs well as testing for magnetism, the scratch test can also be performed on your would-be space rock. 2) Most meteorites are denser than the average Earth rock. If your sample is older it may be more of a rusty brown as the iron content in the meteorite begins to rust.įlow lines are very thin lines caused by the melting of the meteorite as it enters Earth's atmosphere, patterns that can be minute and thinner than a human hair. Meteorites are black or dark brown, rather smooth, with no gas holes often, meteorites look very different from the other rocks lying nearby. Is the rock a shiny black? If you’ve happened across a fresh meteorite, the surface may well be shiny due to the effect of traveling through the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed. This melting process can even result in a stony crust around the surface of the meteorite called a fusion crust, described as a black eggshell-like outer crust around the rock. Many stone meteorites-particularly those that have been on the surface of our planet for an extended period of time-frequently look much like terrestrial rocks, and it can take a skilled eye to spot them when meteorite hunting in the field. Regmaglypts on a meteorite nicknamed “Oileán Ruaidh” on Mars. The largest group of meteorites is the stones, and they once formed part of the outer crust of a planet or asteroid.
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