To better understand the different types of meteorites and where they come from, one has to travel back in time: to the beginning of the solar system.
TO DISCOVER IN THE EXHIBITION
The film “Météorite, a journey through time and space”
Visitors climb aboard a spaceship that offers a panoramic view of the solar system. Either standing, sitting or lying down, they embark on a stunning, 7-minute audiovisual spectacle of the history of the solar system and the origins of meteorites. © MNHN – JC Domenech
The film “Météorite, a journey through time and space”
Visitors climb aboard a spaceship that offers a panoramic view of the solar system. Either standing, sitting or lying down, they embark on a stunning, 7-minute audiovisual spectacle of the history of the solar system and the origins of meteorites. © MNHN – JC Domenech
From the asteroid belt to Earth - such a long trip
With their finger tips, visitors accompany a meteoroid in each step of its cosmic odyssey… Alpha Studio © MNHN – JC Domenech
Where to meteorites come from?
To better understand the different types of meteorites and where they come from, one has to travel back in time: to the beginning of the solar system. 4,56 billion years ago, in our Galaxy, a part of the gas and dust cloud collapsed and contracted, forming the protosun surrounded by a disk of dust and gas. The first solids were formed in this rotating system: the dust melted and then crystallised in the form of spherules - the chondrules. Turbulence provoked the agglomeration of these solids together with the primordial dust, generating asteroids which, through successive collisions, gave rise to planetary embryos and eventually planets. Meteorites result from bodies - the asteroids -, which have survived these complex processes.
The different kinds of meteorites
Every meteorite category has its fans, these rocks are all unique. Chondrites are the oldest rocks in the solar system. Lunar and martian achondrites capture the imagination of space exploration enthusiasts. As for iron meteorites and pallasites, they constitute some of the most spectacular rocks. More than 80 meteorites are presented in the second part of the exhibition in order to show their large diversity.
UNDIFFERENTIATED METEORITES OR CHONDRITES (86,5%)
The Adam Talha Meteorite
Found in Mauritania in 2005, this meteorite reveals extremely well preserved chondrules. © MNHN – JC Domenech
The Lancé meteorite
This chondrite fell in France in 1872 © MNHN – JC Domenech
The Sainte-Marguerite meteorite
It landed in France in 1962 © MNHN – JC Domenech
The Sainte-Rose meteorite
Found in Réunion in 1983 © MNHN – JC Domenech
Extraterrestrial diversity
Most meteorites are fragments of small asteroids that have not undergone differentiation, they are called undifferentiated meteorites or chondrites. The meteorites that have been the least altered still contain chondrules: the solar system’s first solids. Some of them, which are very rare, come from comets. The rest - a few percent -, are differentiated meteorites. They result from bodies that have undergone differentiation like large asteroids (for example, Vesta), telluric planets (Mars) or their satellites (the Moon).
A long journey
In outer space, asteroids not only collide with each other but they also crash into planets and their satellites, such as the Moon. These collisions generate fragments of various sizes. Under certain conditions, they escape the gravitational pull of the celestial body of origin. The ejected meteoroids begin a several-million-year journey through outer space and can, in turn, collide with other celestial bodies, like the Earth where they will end their trip… as meteorites.