Meteorite fall

Witnessed bolide

Meteorite falls, also called observed falls, are meteorites collected after their fall from space was observed by people or automated devices. All other meteorites are called "finds".^[1][2] As of June 2012, there are about 1,103 documented falls that are listed in widely used databases,^[3][4][5] most of which have specimens in modern collections.

Importance

Observed meteorite falls are interesting for several reasons.

Material from observed falls has not been subjected to terrestrial weathering, making the find a better candidate for scientific study. Historically, observed falls were the most compelling evidence supporting the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites.^[6] Furthermore, observed fall discoveries are a better representative sample of the types of meteorites which fall to Earth. For example, iron meteorites take much longer to weather and are easier to identify as unusual objects, as compared to other types of meteorite. This may explain the increased proportion of iron meteorites among finds (6.7%), over that among observed falls (4.4%).^[3]