Meteorites are like a time machine and spacecraft all in one. Discover how our scientists use rare specimens in the meteorite collection we care for to understand the history of Earth and our solar ...

In carbon-containing meteorites, impacts create extremely hot carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases (yellow). Credit: Kurosawa Kosuke Carbon-containing meteorites look like they had less severe ...

What happens when two carbon-rich space rocks slam into each other? You'd expect to see clear signs of impact in the ensuing meteorites — but for over 30 years, scientists have puzzled over why ...

In carbon-containing meteorites, impacts create extremely hot carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases (yellow). Kurosawa says: “We found that the momentum of the ensuing explosion is enough to eject ...

Geologic map of the asteroid belt. Circles identify the asteroid families from which our meteorites originate and letters mark the corresponding meteorite type. The horizontal axis ranges from short ...