This 34-ton meteorite is a piece of Cape York, which was recovered in Greenland in 1894. It currently resides in New York’s American Museum of Natural History. Credit: David J. Eicher
Every year, more than 4,000 tons of cast-off asteroid and comet material enters our atmosphere. Of all this debris, though, less than 1 percent avoids burning up and eventually lands on Earth. We call these space rocks meteorites, and they’re popular collectibles with astronomy, geology, and mineralogy enthusiasts alike.
In the May issue, Astronomy Contributing Editor Mike Reynolds explains what you need to know to start a meteorite collection, and he mentions the three classifications and the various locations certain space rocks have landed. Falls have been discovered from Greenland to Antarctica, from the United States to Russia. In the PDF you can download below, Senior Editor Michael E. Bakich provides three maps describing some of the various finds of stones, irons, and stony-irons. Some are more common while others are extremely rare, but any would be a great addition to a meteorite collection.
