METEORS AND METEORITES: HISTORY AND MYSTERY

The earliest meteorite with a documented place and date of fall came to Earth in France’s Alsace region in 1492. With a lack of understanding of meteors and meteorites at the time, townsfolk chained the two-foot-diameter piece of stone and iron to a tree to prevent it from escaping.

- STEVE VOYNICK

A century later, natives of Argentina’s Chaco region showed Spanish soldiers a metal boulder they had watched fall from the sky. The soldiers, who considered the tale impossible, instead believed that the boulder was part of an outcropped metal vein. They named the site Minero de Fierro (Iron Mine) and began digging toward what they were sure was a deposit of high-grade iron.

Both accounts illustrate the mystery and misunderstanding that once surrounded meteors and meteorites. Today, we know that meteors are a solid matter from space that vaporizes and become incandescent upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere and that meteorites are the matter that survives atmospheric entry to reach the Earth’s surface.

With their thunderous noises, flashes of light, smoke trails, and sometimes violent impacts, meteors have always commanded attention. So, too, did meteorites with their great density, often high metal content, and unusual surface textures. Both became entwined in the lore, superstitions, and religions of various cultures.