Meteorites are fragments of meteors that reach Earth's surface.
Meteors are what we commonly know as "falling stars," which make their way into Earth's atmosphere. Their bright light is the heat produced by atmospheric friction as they burn up within the atmosphere. Occasionally, fragments make their way to Earth, and this is what we call "meteorites." Kansas has a higher than normal presence of meteorites found in the world, and is home to a meteorite museum.
Types
Geologists classify meteorites into three basic categories: irons, stones, and stony-irons. Irons consist mainly of iron and nickel in varying proportions. Stones are composed of silicate minerals, which are compounds of silicon, oxygen, and various metallic elements, similar to ordinary rocks found on Earth. Stony-irons are composed of both silicates and metals in roughly equal proportions. There are sub-categories within each type of meteorite as well, but the stony-irons are the rarest type, comprising only 1 percent of all meteorites.
Stony-Irons
There are two basic types of stony-iron meteorites: pallasites and mesosiderites. Pallasites contain olivine, a green or brownish mineral found in igneous rocks, known as the gemstone peridot in its purest form. They are considered the most beautiful of all meteorites because of their brilliant coloring. Mesosiderites are equal parts of nickel-iron and stony components, and are brecciated (consisting of angular fragments of stones fused together). They display silvery metallic flakes and veins that are said to resemble the night sky when polished.
Brenham
One of the most significant meteor finds in the world is located in Haviland, Kansas, and is known as the Brenham meteorite. Estimated to have fallen 20,000 years ago, the Brenham meteorites are stony-irons, and are thought to have originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. These meteorites have been found in burial mounds of the Hopewell Indians of the Little Miami Valley in Ohio. The largest one yet was found in 2005 and weighs 1,400 pounds. Only two larger ones of that type are known to have been found.
Kansas Meteorite Museum
The Kansas Meteorite Museum is located in Haviland, Kansas, the site of the Benham meteorites. The museum is just a modest one-room building, but has a gift shop where you can purchase small meteorite fragments or larger polished pieces. It's owned by Don Stimpson and Dr. Sheila Knepper, who are available for meteorite-hunting expeditions. The museum's exhibits feature detailed maps of the various sites of findings, impressively large specimens of stony-irons and a scientific-analysis device called a cloud chamber that demonstrates sub-atomic particles of the meteorites.
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