The+Meteorite+Connection

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 * Astronomers discover asteroids by detecting the sunlight they reflect. Just by observing the light from an asteroid over time, we can calculate its orbit, size, and shape. Another way to discover what asteroids are made of is to literally send someone up to space, retrieve a piece of the asteroid, and bring it back to earth so that we can run tests on it.
 * Another way to test what asteroids are and what their made of is to use what is already on earth: meteorites! Meteorites starting hitting earth only about 200 years ago, and scientists wondered just where they were coming from, and the results were astonishing: they came from the asteroid belt!:

So, studying meterorites will tell us bout the compositions and geologic processes that occurred on asteroids, however, determining which meteorites came from which asteroids requires additional measurements.

There are different types of meteorites, just like asteroids. Meteorites are usually divided into three major groups: stones, stony-irons, and irons, according to their main composition. Below is a table found on the [|site], which shows the classifications and properties of different meteorites.