Meteors are fascinating, aren’t they?  Whether we’re talking about the ones we pick up off the ice in Antarctica, or the ones that go blazing by overhead at terminal velocity.  Scientists have made some important discoveries from examining meteors here on Earth.  Divided into categories based on their composition, and named after where they are found (or who they hit), it is estimated that about 500 objects make it to the surface of the Earth each year.

Everybody remembers when this image made the world news:

Image:  NASA/JPL SOHO/ESA  (ALH840001)

When the fragment was viewed under the scanning electron microscope, it showed structures which could be the fossilized remains of bacteria-like life forms.  Dismissed initially as being a life form because it was too small, there is more and more evidence for a new class of life form altogether; the nanobacterium.  If these critters really ARE critters, they walk the line between a biotic and an abiotic nature.  And here they are… fossilized in a chunk of rock knocked off Mars.

The Murchison meteorite is unique in its large mass, that it was a witnessed fall, and that it is rich in organic compounds necessary for life as we know it.  The chemical makeup of the compounds show it to be of non-terrestrial origin.

The largest meteorite found in the United States (and the sixth largest in the world) is the Willamette Meteorite.

Image:  Dante Alighieri  July 12, 2005 (some rights reserved)

This meteorite is venerated by the Native American Tribe living in the area, and should the museum stop displaying it, it will be returned to the tribe in question.

Meteorites have been part of our cultural consciousness for a long time, and subject to scientific scrutiny since 1807 when a Yale chemistry professor, Benjamin Silliman, came to the ridiculous conclusion that they where of cosmic origin.  Two hundred years later we are still learning new things from meteors.