We have, over the years, been sent many rocks and photographs of rocks that finders suspect to be meteorites. Some of them we have examined up close, and a few we have analyzed for mineralogy or chemical composition. For most, however, we have only seen photographs. It is impossible to identify a meteorite from a photograph. Often, however, we can say “This is almost certainly not a meteorite” by looking at a photograph. Unfortunately, we usually cannot say with much certainty what kind of rock it actually is by looking at a photograph. The tongue-in-cheek term for a rock that is not a meteorite is a meteorwrong.
We present here a collection of photographs that people have sent us, posted on the Internet and called to our attention, or that we have taken ourselves of rocks that people have sent or brought to us. For most of them we can say “This is almost certainly not a meteorite.” For a few, we’re not sure. For each photo, we provide a short explanation of why we think it is not a meteorite. We might be wrong. To make it more interesting, we include a few photos of real meteorites for comparison.
Notice: We reserve the right to include here (1) photos that you send us, (2) photos that we take ourselves of rocks that you send us, or (3) photos that you call to our attention that are posted on the Internet if you ask our opinion about whether we think the rock or photo is that of a meteorite. This is a university; we learn from each other.
Click on a thumbnail photo below to see a specific photo. To see the whole collection in order, just keep clicking on the next link.
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| Some considerations: Most (~99%) meteorites found by amateurs are ordinary chondrites, irons, and stony irons because (1) these are the most common kinds of meteorites that fall from the sky and (2) such meteorites are often easy to spot because they look different from “ordinary” rocks, even to an amateur. For example, most chondrites and all irons and stony irons contain iron metal and are, therefore, magnetic - they will attract a compass needle. They are also a bit denser (heavier for their size) than most terrestrial (Earth) rocks. About 3% of stony meteorites are achondrites such as howardites, eucrites, diogenites, aubrites, ureilites, lunar meteorites, and martian meteorites. Most achondrites contain little or no metal (<1%) and are not magnetic. All strongly resemble Earth rocks. Put another way, many kinds of earth rocks “look like” the rarest meteorites. If an achondrite does not have a fusion crust (because it’s worn off or it’s a piece from the interior of a large meteorite), it is impossible to recognize it as a meteorite without doing expensive and time-consuming chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical analyses. All the martian meteorites, for example, are rock types that are common on earth (basalts, peridotites, pyroxenites, dunites). Many of the people who have sent us rocks and photos have done so because of our web site on lunar meteorites. Thus, many of the photos in the collection above really don’t look anything like “normal” meteorites. A few resemble lunar meteorites. Again, however, many terrestrial rocks, particularly sedimentary rocks and some volcaniclastic rocks, superficially “look like” the brecciated lunar meteorites. Your chance of finding a real meteorite is very low. For example, there have been only about 22 found in Missouri and 9 found in Illinois in the past 200 years. Less than 1 in 1000 of all known meteorites are from the Moon (same for Mars). Thus, your chance of finding a rare type of meteorite is extremely low. Bottom Line: If you have a rock that has no fusion crust and it looks like a terrestrial rock, it is almost certainly not a meteorite. Meteorite dealers and scientists aren’t going to be interested in examining, studying, or analyzing it.
Other Meteorwrong and Meteorite Identification Sites Meteorwrong
Identification of eBay
Wrongs and Unverified 'Meteorites' on the Web Meteorites and Meteor-wrongs on e-Bay Arizona State University Northern Arizona University University of New Mexico Portland State University Earth Science Australia Meteorites Australia The Meteorite Market Turnstone Geological Services Schoner's ELKK |
Many thanks to Bob Osburn, Karla Kuebler,
Ryan Zeigler, Bob Dymek, Brad Jolliff, and Elton
for examining or analyzing many of the the rocks and photos depicted here.
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This web site has been featured in the following media
Yahoo! Picks - 3 November 2005
Science NetWatch- 9 December 2005
Washington
University News & Information - February 2, 2006
Popular Science FYI, April, 2006 (p. 90)
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Prepared by: Randy L. Korotev Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Washington University in St. Louis e-mail: korotev@wustl.edu Last revised: 11-Aug-2008 |