Meteorite Identification

Meteorite identification. 99% of all meteorites are attracted to a strong magnet. Meteorites are heavier than earth rocks. Use the most powerful neodymium magnet if possible.

See if it is magnetized. Hang it, or the magnet on a string. See if it lines up with the magnet, if it doesn’t it is not a meteorite. Also you can use a compass.

The streak test. Take a rough ceramic, like the underside of toilet bowl cover or coffee mug and use the meteorite like a piece of chalk. If it leaves a black/gray streak (like a soft leaded pencil) the sample is likely magnetite, and if it leaves a vivid red to brown streak it is likely hematite. Meteorites leave very little streaks, usually grey silver.

A stone meteorite, unless it is very heavily weathered will not normally leave a streak on the tile.

Be sure you streak a sample representative of the interior if it is weathered or has fusion crust.

If your stone specimen passed the magnet test, it is time to see inside the meteorite, this is necessary and will not decrease the value. The goal is to use a file to grind flat a corner or appropriate area on the stone. If the specimen is small and you have a bench vice or vice grip, wrap the specimen in a cloth and secure it so you can file a surface. Filing will take some effort. (If this is beyond your abilities - see professional testing) Look at the cut surface from several different angles, if you can see shiny metal flakes scattered throughout the stone, it may well be a meteorite. If the interior is plain then it is probably a wrong. The interior is different from the surface. If it is the same it is not a meteorite.

Regmaglypts, popularly known as thumbprints, are oval depressions-often about the size of a peanut-found on the surface of many meteorites. These indentations look much like the marks a sculptor might make with his fingers on a wet lump of clay.

As a result of this brief but intense heating, the surface burns and forms a thin, dark rind called fusion crust.

Meteorites tend to look different from the ordinary terrestrial rocks around them. They do not contain the common earth mineral quartz, and they do not contain vesicles. When gas escapes from cooling molten material it leaves holes in the slag or volcanic rock. There was no atmosphereic gas where they formed in space.

Iron is heavy and most meteorites feel much heavier in the hand than an ordinary earth rock should.

As a typical meteorite burns through the atmosphere, its surface may melt and flow in tiny rivulets known as flow lines. These patterns formed by flow lines can be minute, often thinner than a strand of human hair, and they are one of the most unique and intriguing surface characteristics of meteorites.

 If the interior displays metal flakes and small, round (chondrites), colorful inclusions, it may well be a stone meteorite.

Nickel is rare on earth but almost always present in meteorites. Assay labs can perform an analysis of the nickel content for a few dollars.