We assume that when we scoop up a piece of land that we are in fact, scooping up the earth. However, this is not always entirely true. Some of what’s around us is not from our world at all but, is instead made up of alien space debris known as micrometeorites. The kids and I have been on the hunt to discover these tiny space particles and we made a video to show how you can do it too. But first, let’s talk a little bit about where it comes from.
A chip off the old block
Meteorites are a literal chip off the block of an asteroid or comet. Here’s how it all happens.
Asteroids are large rocks, made up of minerals and metal, that orbit the sun. Some are so large that they are considered to be minor planets. In our solar system, many of the asteroids are located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Sometimes these rocks crash into each other causing smaller pieces to break off. These pieces are called meteoroids.
And sometimes meteoroids are formed when something collides with a comet. Comets are different from asteroids. They are made up of ice and dust, not rock and have long fiery tails. This means that the meteoroids that come from comets are not made up of the same material and therefor, cannot be found in the same way. We will focus on the ones that come from asteroids in this post, and talk more about comets later.
Wish upon a meteorite
Did you know that most of the time, what we identify as a shooting star is actually a meteor making its dramatic entrance onto our planet?
When a meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere it immediately begins to burn, producing an awesome light show in the sky. Most of the meteoroids are destroyed by this process but, some do survive only to make a crash landing on to the Earth’s surface. These survivors are what we call meteorites.
The largest known meteorite
The largest known fully intact meteorite is called Hoba. It is named after the farm that it was discovered on in 1920. It measures 9’ x 9’ x 3’ and is located in Namibia, South Africa.
And finally...micrometeorites (yayyy!!!)
When these large meteorites hit the Earth, they leave behind massive amounts of debris. This debris is what we call micrometeorites and can be found all over the world .
Now let’s get started.
