Meteorites are rocks from space that have passed through the atmosphere and landed on the Earth's surface. Some meteorites are seen or heard when they fall and are picked up soon afterward called 'falls', while most are found much later, called 'finds'.

Some meteorites are like igneous rocks on Earth, others are pieces of metal, and others are different from all known Earth rocks. All meteorites are pieces of other bodies in space that give us clues to the origin and history of the solar system.