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Weston
Specimen | Catalog Number | Locality | Weight |
---|---|---|---|
Weston | USNM 6530 | United States, Connecticut | 450.20 g |
Rocks falling from the sky have been reported--and revered or feared--throughout human history. But only in the nineteenth century did we begin to discover their true nature.
Today, the study of meteorites is still a very young science. Called meteoritics, it draws on knowledge from geology, astronomy, chemistry, and physics in the search for greater understanding of the Solar System's birth and evolution.
A Brief History of Meteoritics
1492: The Ensisheim meteorite falls in France, convincing some scholars that stones do fall from the sky.
1794: Ernst Chladni, a German naturalist, argues that meteorites are rocks from space.
1801: Italian astronomer Giuseppi Piazzi discovers the first known asteroid and names it Ceres.
1802: British chemist Edward Howard analyzes four meteorite stones and finds that they are similar to one another but different from Earth rocks.
1807: The widely observed fall of the Weston stone in Connecticut sparks a U.S. debate about where such rocks originate.
1906: Industrialist Daniel Barringer proposes that a giant hole in the Arizona desert now known as Meteor Crater formed by impact.
1959: By precisely photographing Pribram's fall, Czechoslovakian scientists show for the first time that a meteorite probably came from the asteroid belt.
February 1969: The Allende meteorite falls in Mexico. Studies of this large and rare stone revolutionize scientific thinking about the Solar System's origins. Learn more in the case behind the partition to your left.
September 1969: The Murchison meteorite lands in Australia. Analyses reveal that it contains amino acids and other organic molecules, compounds found in similar meteorites that fell on early Earth. Some scientists speculate that these molecules led to life on our planet.
December 1969: A Japanese expedition finds the first Antarctic meteorites, launching an era of prolific meteorite discovery. To find out more, visit the Antarctic case to the right.
1980: Louis and Walter Alvarez, an American father and son team, find evidence that a gigantic meteorite impact caused massive species extinctions 65 million years ago. To learn more, see the Impact Area.
1982: The first lunar meteorite, Allan Hills 81005, is identified.
1983: The first Martian meteorite is identified.
1987: Scientists purify stardust the solid dust grains that predate the Solar System from chondrite meteorites. See some near the gallery entrance.
This grain formed in the atmosphere of a red giant a star in its final stages of life. The grain has a titanium carbide core and a graphite mantle.
1994: The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hits Jupiter's atmosphere and provides a spectacular demonstration of the energy released by enormous impacts. To discover more about this event, visit the Impact Area.