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METEORITE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("meteorite" is a kind of...):
meteor; meteoroid ((astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "meteorite"):
aerolite (a stony meteorite consisting of silicate minerals)
micrometeor; micrometeorite; micrometeoroid (a meteorite or meteoroid so small that it drifts down to earth without becoming intensely heated in the atmosphere)
pallasite (a meteorite composed principally of olivine and metallic iron)
siderite (a meteorite consisting principally of nickel and iron)
Derivation:
meteoritic; meteoritical (of or relating to or caused by meteorites)
Context examples:
If the second crater, which has a width of over 22 miles, is ultimately confirmed as the result of a meteorite impact, it will be the 22nd largest impact crater found on Earth.
(NASA Finds Possible Second Impact Crater Under Greenland Ice, NASA)
The team studied samples from Martian meteorites and realized that an overabundance of rare metals — such as platinum, osmium and iridium — in the planet's mantle required an explanation.
(Ancient Asteroid Impact Explains Martian Geological Mysteries, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
In this hypothesis, carbon from meteorites that slammed into the young Earth interacted with nitrogen in the atmosphere to form hydrogen cyanide.
(Scientists identify exoplanets where life could develop as it did on Earth, University of Cambridge)
These Martian organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered to Mars by meteorites.
(Curiosity Detects Methane Spike on Mars, NASA)
The measurements show that the molybdenum isotopic composition of the Earth lies between those of the carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous meteorites, demonstrating that some of Earth's molybdenum originated in the outer solar system.
(Moon’s Formation Brought Water to Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Professor Schulze-Makuch believes it is possible a meteorite could have blasted off Earth and transported similar life to the moon.
(Life Could Exist on Moon 4 Billion Years Ago, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Vaterite was often associated with outer space and had been detected in planetary objects in the Solar System and meteorites.
(Rare mineral discovered in plants for first time, University of Cambridge)
After shock-compression experiments on whitlockite samples that simulated the conditions of ejecting meteorites from Mars, the researchers studied their microscopic makeup with X-ray experiments.
(New Evidence for A Water-Rich History on Mars, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
This follows the finding of a 19-mile-wide crater beneath Hiawatha Glacier – the first meteorite impact crater ever discovered under Earth’s ice sheets.
(NASA Finds Possible Second Impact Crater Under Greenland Ice, NASA)
Iron-nickel meteorites are a common class of space rocks found on Earth, and previous examples have been seen on Mars, but this one, called Egg Rock, is the first on Mars examined with a laser-firing spectrometer.
(Curiosity Mars Rover Checks Odd-looking Iron Meteorite, NASA)
