After a long time spent on Earth, however, the iron metal in the meteorite will turn to rust, leaving the meteorite a rusty brown. If the rock you’ve found is a freshly fallen meteorite, it will be black and shiny as a result of having burned through the atmosphere. By checking for common visual and physical markers of a meteorite, you can determine whether the rock you’ve found is actually extraterrestrial in origin.ĭiscern if the rock is black or rusty brown.
However, you’ll want to make sure your find is indeed a stony or iron rock of cosmic origin and not a piece of ordinary terrestrial material. Although meteorites are relatively rare on Earth, they’re not impossible to find in the wild. If you’ve come across a rock that looks positively out-of-this-world, there’s a possibility it may be a meteorite. Two Parts: Looking for Visual Identifiers and Testing the Rock’s Physical Properties How to Tell if the Rock You Found Might Be a Meteorite
