NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  1. Question

    Do all meteorites originate from within the solar system?

    Yes, as far as we know. For only a handful of meteorites have we determined their orbits before they hit the Earth, and these were all asteroidal type orbits. But the main reason we think they all originated within the solar system is their common age of about 4.51 to 4.56 billion years. Thus the meteorites must have formed together with the rest of the solar system. However, there is increasing evidence that some of the individual mineral grains in many meteorites have existed for longer than this and must therefore have formed elsewhere and been incorporated (without melting or undergoing chemical reactions) into the nebula from which the solar system formed. David Morrison
    NAI Senior Scientist

    July 26, 2006

    1. Tell us what you think!


      It's your Astrobiology Program: please help us out by sending comments on what's here, and ideas for new features.

    Page Feedback

    Email (optional)
    Comment