Meteorites For Sale 

Meteorites are the means by which we sample the material that is out in the reaches of our solar system. There are many different types of bodies in the solar system so there are many different types of meteorites. The largest group by far is the stony meteorites. Two main types of stone meteorites are the Chondrites and the Achondrites. The chondrites are the meteorites with small spherical structures called chondrules. The "A" on Achondrite means no or not and refers to the fact that these have no chondrules. They may have been heated or smashed by impacts or formed on a larger body where gravity prevented the formation of spherical structures and formed layers instead. Among the Achondrites are the lunar and Martian meteorites. These are very rare and have reached Earth because of impacts on the Moon or Mars which have sent a small amount of material out into space eventually reaching our planet as meteorites. Most of the other Achondrites are from asteroids where the material has been melted and the primitive chondrule structures have disappeared or they are from even larger asteroids where the rocks formed under the surface; melted by internal heat and pressure.

The next largest major type of meteorites are those made of nickel-iron aptly call the Iron meteorites. These may represent the material from the core of a large body or several bodies in space. Depending on the amount of nickel in the meteorites three type of irons are found on Earth. Ataxites have the highest nickel content followed by a large group called Octahedrites which have a pattern when etched. The lowest nickel content iron meteorites are the Hexahedrites. These like the Ataxites do not have much of a pattern when polished and etched.

The rarest of the meteorite families is the stony-irons and they are as the name implies a mixture of metal and mineral. The two type of stony-irons are the Pallasites which have crystals of olivine mixed with  nickel-iron and the Mesosiderites which have silicate minerals mixed with the nickel-iron.

In each of the main families of meteorites there are many sub-groups and classifications. Many of these are represented in our catalog. The great diversity of types makes collecting meteorites an exciting and challenging avocation.