Stony Meteorites:
Chondrites:
consist mostly of chondrules - spherical, mm-sized
once-molten objects that formed during a fast heating event. They are believed to originate from an undifferentiated smaller asteroid that cooled quickly and formed at the same time as the planets in our solar nebula 4.55 billion years ago.
Size: 3cm
Stony Meteorites:
Achondrites:
are melted stony meteorites that come from larger asteroids where heat was not lost quickly enough so that the bodies began to melt and differentiate into core, mantle and crust. Achondrites represent the outer layer, the crust, of the differentiated asteroid.
Size: 7cm
Stony-Iron Meteorites:
consist of a mixture of silicate minerals surrounded by
iron-nickel metal, a product of differentiation processes. They are thought to have originated at the core/mantle boundary of a large asteroid.
Size: 3cm
Iron Meteorites:
were originally completely molten and formed from
iron-nickel cores of large asteroids. They provide us with the best clues about the composition of the inaccessible Earth’s core.
Size: 7cm