# Meteorites from Other Planets **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551 "2012-08-15T12:09:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/1 "2012-08-15T12:09:49Z")
There are a bunch of meteorites found on Earth that are known to be from Mars. Are there meteorites from any other planets that have landed on Earth? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/2 "2012-08-15T12:59:36Z")
This webpage seems to indicate that it’s possible for impacts to eject material from Mercury into an earth crossing orbit but that no metorites of Mercurian origin have been identified. [http://www.meteoritestudies.com/protected\_MERCURY.HTM](http://www.meteoritestudies.com/protected_MERCURY.HTM) Venus is also possible but less likely because of the thicker atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/3 "2012-08-15T13:28:46Z")
There are meteorites on Earth that may be from Mars. None are known to be. They don’t come with Made on Mars stickers on them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/4 "2012-08-15T13:59:13Z")
There are also a good many believed to come from the Moon, which is unsurprising, it being by far the closest planet. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/5 "2012-08-15T14:04:35Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > There are meteorites on Earth that may be from Mars. None are known to be. They don’t come with Made on Mars stickers on them. NASA seems pretty convinced that 34 are positively identified as being Martian in origin, and a bunch more that are likely but not as certain. [http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/](http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/6 "2012-08-15T16:12:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are also a good many believed to come from the Moon, which is unsurprising, it being by far the closest planet. The Moon is a planet now? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/7 "2012-08-15T16:19:09Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > The Moon is a planet now? 😉 Great. The moon is a planet but Pluto isn’t. What is this solar system coming to? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/8 "2012-08-15T16:23:58Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Great. The moon is a planet but Pluto isn’t. What is this solar system coming to? Yup. Always has been. [And so is the Sun.](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/planet) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/9 "2012-08-15T18:18:55Z")
Any sane definition of “planet” which includes the Earth must also include the Moon. The IAU’s current definition of “planet” cannot be considered sane, as, if it were actually applied as written, it would not include the Earth (a fact which is just quietly swept under the rug by those who wrote the current definition). That said, I would not consider Luna and Earth on the one hand to be in the same category of objects as Pluto and Eris on the other (nor would I consider Jupiter and Saturn to be in either category). Personally, I favor replacing the category of “planet” entirely, with the three categories of “rockball”, “gasball”, and “iceball”. Thus, for instance, I would say that Earth is the largest of our system’s six rockballs, that our system includes a total of four gasballs, and that Pluto and Eris are among the largest of our system’s myriad iceballs. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/10 "2012-08-15T18:27:50Z")
Did you just call the moon a planet in order to give your little pedantic speech when questioned? There are probably also Earth-origin meteorites on Mars, although fewer because Earth gives up her ejecta less freely and Mars catches things less often. Still, it’s cool to think some rock with Earth-fossils in it might be on Mars. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/11 "2012-08-15T18:33:48Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Still, it’s cool to think some rock with Earth-fossils in it might be on Mars. That could be darn confusing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/12 "2012-08-15T18:37:19Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Still, it’s cool to think some rock with Earth-fossils in it might be on Mars. That would get the Curiosity team pretty excited, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/13 "2012-08-15T18:39:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Personally, I favor replacing the category of “planet” entirely, with the three categories of “rockball”, “gasball”, and “iceball”. Thus, for instance, I would say that Earth is the largest of our system’s six rockballs, that our system includes a total of four gasballs, and that Pluto and Eris are among the largest of our system’s myriad iceballs. Statist! Where are the Plasmaballs and Liquidballs? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/14 "2012-08-15T21:28:26Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Statist! > > Where are the Plasmaballs and Liquidballs? 😛 Wouldn’t the Sun be a Plasmaball? There’s a planet of almost all water that would be a Liquidball over in … Oops, said too much. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/15 "2012-08-15T22:03:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **bup** : > > Did you just call the moon a planet in order to give your little pedantic speech when questioned? No, I did so because in a discussion of meteorites from other planets, the nearest planet, and the one which has been the origin of a larger number of meteorites than other planets, is relevant. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/16 "2012-08-15T23:11:19Z")
I thought planets were objects orbiting the Sun that are larger than asteroids. Gotta get comets out of that definition, come to think of it…how large are comets? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/17 "2012-08-15T23:18:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, I did so because in a discussion of meteorites from other planets, the nearest planet, and the one which has been the origin of a larger number of meteorites than other planets, is relevant. He’s right. The question then becomes “How many planets do we think we have recovered pieces of here on Earth?” Which is in fact the OP. We have them from; The Moon Mars (we think) Beyond that, none suspected of being from say, Pluto, or the moons of Jupiter or Saturn, and certainly there wouldn’t be any from the various gas giants. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/18 "2012-08-15T23:21:12Z")
Let me amend that. We think we might have pieces of [Vesta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HED_meteorite). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/19 "2012-08-16T01:40:17Z")
Oh, cool, I hadn’t heard about those Vesta rocks. I wouldn’t have guessed that Vesta was big enough to be a significant source (“significant” being here defined as “enough that we would ever have found any”). Anyone know anything about meteors from Mercury, Venus, or Ceres? I can’t see any reason there wouldn’t be, unless Venus’ atmosphere would prevent escape events. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551/20 "2012-08-16T01:52:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Anyone know anything about meteors from Mercury, Venus, or Ceres? I can’t see any reason there wouldn’t be, unless Venus’ atmosphere would prevent escape events. See the webpage I quoted in the second post. It sounds like there are almost certainly pieces of Mercury on the earth somewhere but they are rare enough that we haven’t found any yet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorites-from-other-planets/631551.md?page=2)