Where Do Meteorites Come From?

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If you've ever held a real meteorite in your hand, you probablywanted to know, "Where has this rock been in space and where did itcome from?" Until now, no one has been able to definitivelyestablish where the majority of meteorites found on Earth came from because of the changes that occur in meteorites afterthey are ejected from the asteroids they were originally part of.The most common type of meteorite found on Earth, about 75% ofthose identified, are chondrites, stony bits of space rocks thatdidn't undergo any melting while out in space. Two astronomers sayhave determined that most of these meteorites come from theasteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter . Using the GEMINI telescope, they found that asteroids in thatregion are similar to chondrites found on Earth.

This discovery is the first observational match between the mostcommon meteorites and asteroids in the main belt. It also confirmsthe role of space weathering in altering asteroid surfaces.
To find the parent asteroid of a meteorite, the astronomerscompared the spectra of a meteorite specimen to those of asteroids.This is a difficult task because meteorites and their parentasteroids underwent different processes after the meteorite wasejected. In particular, surfaces of asteroids are known to bealtered by a process called .