stony meteorite

A meteorite composed of mostly silicate minerals (75–90% by weight), together with nickel-iron metal alloy (10–25%), and iron sulfide. Stony meteorites are a very varied group, ranging from virtually unaltered samples of matter that date back to the dawn of the Solar System, some 4.55 billion years ago, to rocks with a complex history that have come from large differentiated worlds, such as the Moon or Mars.

Stony meteorites account for 95% of all known falls. The majority (86% of all falls) are chondrites, the rest are achondrites.

Largest known stony meteorites
meteorite	country	fell	class	group	mass (kg)
Jilin	China	1976	chondrite	H5	1,770
Norton County	USA	1984	achondrite	aubrite	1,073
Long Island	USA	1948	chondrite	L6	564 (broken)
Paragould	USA	1930	chondrite	LL5	371
Bjurbole	Finland	1899	chondrite	L/LL4	334 (broken)

Related category

• METEORS AND METEORITES

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