SPECIMEN: Meteorite

LOCATION: Northern Africa

MOHS: 6-7

Our planet is bombarded with space rocks all the time, but most burn up before they hit the ground. The ones that make it through entry are called meteorites, and we’ve been fascinated with them for centuries. The space rocks that survive touchdown can be made of lots of different materials, and those elements can be clues of a meteorite’s extraterrestrial origins. For instance, iridium is super rare on the Earth’s surface, but it’s common in meteorites and cosmic dust.

Not only are they cool to look at, they can tell us so much about the universe outside of our atmosphere, and give us insights into the earliest days of our universe. There’s even one called the Allende meteorite that may contain nodules that are older than our own planet. Talk about a find that’s out of this world!