Iron meteorites, also called siderites or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite.

Meteoric iron, sometimes meteoritic iron, [1] is a native metal and early-universe protoplanetary-disk remnant found in meteorites and made from the elements iron and nickel, mainly in the form of the mineral phases kamacite and taenite.

More than 95% of all meteorites contain iron-nickel (FeNi) metal. As a consequence, meteorites have concentrations of nickel that are much greater than that of nearly any terrestrial rock. “Iron-nickel” means that the metal is mostly iron but it also contains 5-30% nickel.

Meteorites are fragments of rock or metal that fall to Earth from space. They are very rare, but many people find unusual rocks or pieces of metal and wonder if they might have found a meteorite.

There are three main groups of meteorite: iron meteorites, stony-iron meteorites and stony meteorites. They differ in their amount of iron-nickel metal they contain and what they reveal about the early solar system.

Almost all meteorites contain extraterrestrial nickel and iron, and those that contain no iron at all are so rare that when we are asked for help and advice on identifying possible space rocks, we usually discount anything that does not contain significant amounts of metal.

Iron meteorites are very dense - much heavier than almost all terrestrial rocks - and will easily adhere to a strong magnet. Iron meteorites also contain a relatively high percentage of nickel - a metal very rarely found on Earth - and they display a unique feature that is never seen in terrestrial material.

iron meteorite, any meteorite consisting mainly of iron, usually combined with small amounts of nickel. When such meteorites, often called irons, fall through the atmosphere, they may develop a thin, black crust of iron oxide that quickly weathers to rust.

Jan 18, 2025 · Meteorite - Chondrites, Irons, Stony-Irons: Iron meteorites are pieces of denser metal that segregated from the less-dense silicates when their parent bodies were at least partially melted.

Most "iron" meteorites are iron-nickel alloy with a few scattered inclusions of sulfide minerals. The alloys are 5 to 12 percent nickel, with traces of cobalt, chromium, gold, platinum, iridium, tungsten and other elements that dissolved in the molten iron and traveled with it to the parent body's tri.