The Meteorite Collection of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science DMNS 17

Pick up your copy of this publication!  An excellent synopsis of the history of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science meteorite collection by Hagadorn, Spindler, Bowles and Neu-Yagle.  It contains several never before seen photos of H.H. Nininger and shots from the DMNS archive. Also contains a full listing of the DMNS meteorite collection catalog  WELL worth the few bucks it costs for a printed copy. Our friends at the Colorado Geological Survey have some additional meteorite photos courtesy of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

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What IS a meteorite?

What IS a meteorite??
Simply put, a meteorite is a rock from space.  These rocks can originate from the moon, Mars, or other bodies in our celestial neighborhood.  They come in many different types: ones that are made mostly of stone, some mixed with various percentages of metal and stone and those that are nearly completely metallic.  They can be extremely old, even older than the earth and some contain grains of pre-solar martial (YES OLDER THAN OUR SUN).  Just recently one meteorite called Murchison, which fell in Australia in 1969, was found to contain grains that are 7 BILLION years old!!

Many years ago meteorites were also known as "aerolites". The word "aerolite" is French, meaning "rock from the air."  This word has generally fallen out of favor and we now use "meteorite", which is rooted in the Greek word "meteōra" meaning "the celestial phenomena, things in heaven above," and "-ite" is added meaning "connected with or belonging to."

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Stone meteorite called Nakhon Pathom from Thailand

Stone and iron mix meteorite called a pallasite from Fukang, China

A meteorite composed of iron found near Glorieta, New Mexico