Glossary of meteoritics

B

• Basaltic achondrite – a grouping of basalt meteorites (HED meteorites + Angrite)
• Brachinite – either a primitive achondrite or an asteroidal achondrite
• Bolide – is an extremely bright meteor, especially one that explodes in the atmosphere

C

• C – can refer to carbonaceous chondrite or to an iron meteorite designation (Roman numeral and letter).
• Carbonaceous chondrite
• CAI – an abbreviation of calcium–aluminium-rich inclusion
• Calcium–aluminium-rich inclusion
• Chassignite
• Chondrite – stony meteorites unmodified by melting or differentiation of the parent body
• Chondrule – millimetre-scale round grains found in chondrites
• Clan – meteorites that are not similar enough to form a group, but are also not too different from each other to be put in separate classes.^[1]
• Class – two or more groups that have a similar chemistry and oxygen isotope ratios.^[1]
• Compositional type – a classification based on overall composition, for example stony, iron, stony-iron (as introduced by Maskelyne). Can also refer to the composition deduced from spectroscopy of asteroids.
• Condensation – the process of chemicals changing from the gaseous to the solid phase during the cooling of the protoplanetary disk.
• Condensation sequence – the sequence of minerals that changes from the gaseous to the solid state while the protoplanetary disk cools.
• Cosmic dust – small interplanetary and interstellar particles that are similar to meteorites (See Micrometeorite).
• Cosmochemistry – the study of the chemical composition of the universe and its constituents, and the processes that produced those compositions.^[2]

D

• Dar al Gani – a meteorite field in the Libyan Sahara.
• Desert glass – natural glass found in deserts formed from the silica in sand as a result of lightning strikes or meteor impacts.
• Differentiated – a meteorite that has undergone igneous differentiation. (See: achondrite)
• Differentiation – usually the process of a planetesimal forming an iron core and silicate mantle.
• Duo – a grouping of two meteorites that share similar characteristics (see Grouplet).

E

• E – can refer to enstatite chondrite or to an iron meteorite designation (Roman numeral and letter).
• Eagle Station grouplet
  – a set of pallasite meteorite specimen that do not fit into any of the defined pallasite groups.
• Electrophonic bolide – a meteoroid which produces a measurable discharge of electromagnetic energy (EMP) during its passage through the atmosphere.
• Enstatite achondrite – a meteorite that is mostly composed of enstatite. Usually part of the aubrite group.
• Enstatite chondrite – a rare form of meteorite thought to comprise only 2% of chondrites.

F

• Fall – a meteorite that was seen while it fell to Earth and found.
• Find – a meteorite that was found without seeing it fall.
• Fossil meteorite – a meteorite that was buried under layers of sediment before the start of the
  period. Some or all of the original cosmic material has been replaced by diagenetic minerals.^[3]: 320 (It is, however, not a fossil
  ).
• Fusion crust – a coating on meteorites that forms during their passage through the atmosphere.

• Group – a collection of five or more meteorites sharing similar characteristics.^[1]
• Grouplet – a collection of fewer than five meteorites sharing similar characteristics.^[1]

• Hammer Stone – a specific individual meteorite that has hit either a human, man-made object, and/or an animal.
• HED – abbreviation for three basaltic achondrite groups howardite, eucrite and diogenite.
• HED meteorite – a clan of basaltic achondrites.
• Hexahedrite – a structural class of iron meteorites having a relatively low nickel content
• Hunter
  – a person who searches for meteorites.

I

• Impact breccia
  – rock composed of fragments of terrestrial, extraterrestrial or mixed origin fused by the energy of impact
• Impactite – informal term for a terrestrial rock resulting from the shocking impact of a meteor.
• Iron–nickel alloy – an alternative expression for meteoric iron.
• Iron meteorite – a meteorite that is mainly composed of meteoric iron.

K

• Kakangari chondrite
  – a group of chondrite meteorites.
• Kamacite – a native metal (mineral) found in meteorites.

L

• Lodranite – member of a small group of primitive achondrites thought to derive from deeper within the same parent body as acapulcoites
• Lunaite – a meteorite that originated from the Moon (synonym of Lunar meteorite). Compare Category:Meteorites found on bodies other than Earth
  .
• Lunaite). Compare Category:Meteorites found on bodies other than Earth
  .

M

• Main group pallasite – a pallasite
  belonging to the main group.
• Main mass – the largest/heaviest piece of a fragmented meteorite, typically found in a strewn field.
• Magmatic meteorite
• Martian meteorite – a meteorite that originated from Mars. Compare Category:Meteorites found on bodies other than Earth.
• Maskelynite – a natural glass found in meteorites.
• Matrix – the mineral assemblage surrounding chondrules.
• Mesosiderite – a grouping of stony-iron meteorite that are breccias.
• Meteoric iron – a native metal found in meteorites and a mixture of different mineral phases. Compare telluric iron.
• Meteorite Observation and Recovery Program – a scientific program that was centered in Canada.
• Meteoriticist
  – a scientist working on meteorites, meteors, and meteoroids.
• Meteoritics – the science of meteorites, meteors, and meteoroids.
• MORP – abbreviation for Meteorite Observation and Recovery Program.
• Micrometeorite – microscopic meteorites derived from Cosmic dust.

N

• Martian meteorites
• Neumann lines (or Neumann bands) – a pattern of fine parallel lines seen in some iron meteorites, thought to be due to impact events on the parent body
• Nonmagmatic meteorite – (deprecated) iron meteorites that were thought to have not formed by igneous processes.

O

• O – usually refers to ordinary chondrite
• Observed fall – a meteorite that was seen when it fell to Earth.
• Octahedrite – the most common structural class of iron meteorites.
• Ordinary chondrite – a chondrite meteorite, where 'ordinary' means that it is the most common found

P

• PAC – abbreviation for primitive achondrite.
• Pallasite – a class of stony–iron meteorite.
• Panspermia – the hypothesis that life could reach other planets by the means of meteorites and/or comets.
• Parent body – the celestial body from which originates a meteorite or a class of meteorites.
• Petrologic type
  – a classification scheme that expresses the degree to which a meteorite has been affected by the secondary processes of thermal metamorphism and aqueous alteration on the parent asteroid.
• IAB meteorites
  .
• asteroidal achondrite).^[4]
• Plessite – a fine grained intergrowth found in meteoric iron consisting of kamacite, taenite and tetrataenite lamella.^[5]
• Presolar grains – interstellar solid matter in the form of tiny solid grains from a time before the Sun was formed.
• Primitive meteorite
• Primitive achondrite – a meteorite that has similarities to achondrites and chondrites.
• Protoplanetary disk – a circumstellar disk from which all solids in the Solar System formed.
• Pyroxene pallasite grouplet

R

• Regmaglypts – thumbprint-sized indentations in the surface of larger meteorites formed by ablation as the meteorite passes through a planet's atmosphere, probably caused by vortices of hot gas.^[6]
• Rose-Tschermak-Brezina classification – a classification developed by Gustav Rose, Gustav Tschermak and Aristides Brezina.
• Rumuruti chondrite – a group of chondrites.

S

• Shergottite
  – igneous rocks of mafic to ultramafic lithology, named after a meteorite that fell at Sherghati, India in 1865.
• Shock stage – a measure of the degree of fracturing of the matrix of a common chondrite meteorite.
• Shock metamorphism – the effects of shock-wave related deformation and heating during impact events.
• Siderite – the old term for iron meteorite.
• Siderolite – the old term for stony-iron meteorites.
• chassignite
  , the three main types of Martian meteorite.
• Solar nebula – a synonym of the protoplanetary disk
  .
• Spectral class –
• Stony meteorite – a meteorite composed mostly of silicates
  .
• Stony-iron meteorite – a meteorite that is a mixture of meteoric iron and silicates.
• Strewn field – a field of fragments from one meteorite fall.
• Structural class – a subdivision of iron meteorites in ataxites, hexahedrites and octahedrites.
• Superbolide
  – is a bolide that reaches an apparent magnitude of −17 or brighter, which is roughly 100 times brighter than the full moon. Recent examples of superbolides include the Sutter's Mill meteorite and the Chelyabinsk meteor.

T

• Taenite – a native metal (mineral) found in meteorites.
• Tamdakht – a meteorite that fell near Ouarzazate, Morocco on 2008-12-20 producing a strewn field of approximately 25 km (16 mi) by 2 km (1.2 mi) and two small impact craters.
• Tektite – glassy terrestrial debris created by meteorite impacts.
• Thumbprinting – see regmaglypts
• Total known weight (TKW) – total known mass of a meteorite.
• Trio – a grouping of three meteorites that share similar characteristics (see Grouplet).
• Type – subdivision of meteorites. Loosely defined. Usually refers to chondrite, achondrite and sometimes primitive achondrite.^[1]

U

• IAB meteorites
  .
• Ungrouped – a meteorite that has not been assigned to a group or grouplet.
• Undifferentiated
• Ureilite

V

• Vesta – second largest asteroid in the asteroid belt and likely source of the HED meteorites.
• Volatile elements – are chemical elements that have low boiling and condensation temperatures.

W

• Widmanstätten pattern – a fine interleaving of kamacite and taenite bands/ribbons found in octahedrite irons and some pallasites.
• Willamette meteorite – the largest meteorite discovered in North America, found in the Willamette Valley
  of Oregon.
• Winonaite – a type of primitive achondrite meteorite.
• Weston meteorite – a meteorite which fell to earth above the town of Weston, Connecticut on December 14, 1807.^[7]

References

1. ^
   ISBN 978-0816525621
   . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
2. OCLC 1259294621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
   )
3. ISBN 978-1-4613-4668-5
4. Bibcode:2012LPI....43.2690A
   . Retrieved 4 January 2013.
5. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2006.tb00482.x
   .
6. ^ "regmaglypts". Meteorite or Meteorwrong?. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
7. ^ "The Weston Meteorite (Yale Peabody Museum)". 7 December 2010.