• Question: Is the composition of meteorites different from that of ordinary rocks?

    Asked by goer532syne4 to pratibhagautam, niamhtopping, joshuahollowood on 9 Oct 2025. This question was also asked by IslaM.
    • Photo: Joshua Hollowood

      Joshua Hollowood answered on 9 Oct 2025:

      Yes, meteorites are usually different from ordinary rocks you find on Earth. Many meteorites are made from minerals that formed in the early solar system and contain things you almost never see in normal Earth rocks.

      Other meteorites are made mostly of metal or rock that has melted and changed inside an asteroid, so they also look different from typical Earth rocks.

    • Photo: Niamh Topping

      Niamh Topping answered on 14 Oct 2025:

      Yes and no! Rocks are made of minerals, so different meteorites are made of different minerals depending on where they came from. Whilst there are some minerals we see in meteorites that we don’t see in Earth rocks, you’d be surprised at how many of the same minerals there are! I work with meteorites from Mars and there’s a few sites on Earth which are a good analogue (so similar, but not the same!) as the types of rocks we see on Mars

Comments