Meteroids, meteors and meterorites are studied by Astronomy and Astrophysics departments in Universities across Aotearoa New Zealand. Here is some basic information and the researchers behind this matauranga:
What is a fireball?
How to find a meteorite
Fast Facts
- About 70,000 meteorites have been found world-wide
- Only about 50 of these 70,000 were photographed as they arrived as a fireball
- Meteor camera networks photograph incoming meteors from multiple locations
- Capturing fireballs on multiple cameras allows the meteor’s path through the atmosphere to be calculated accurately
- From this, the meteorite’s likely landing point can be estimated
- This helps us find it before it gets rained on or very contaminated (most meteorites are discovered too late for studies of volatile characteristics of meteors)
- As an example of the success of this strategy, the Winchcombe, UK, meteorite of 28th February 2021 was recovered
- The object’s orbit before hitting the Earth can also be calculated
- With a freshly-recovered object and a calculation of where in the solar system it came from we can learn much about our solar system
- Also, the meteorite’s strength, density and composition can be compared with its path through the atmosphere to learn more about the physics of meteorite and comet impacts