Meteorites are fragments of rocky or metallic extraterrestrial matter of significant size. They originate in outer space from objects such as asteroids or comets and pass through the atmosphere of a planet when entering its gravitational field in order to reach its surface.

When in outer space, these fragments are referred to as meteoroids. Upon contact with the atmosphere, they start burning to some extent from the extreme heat produced while moving at great speed within denser environments, with some of them completely disintegrating while smaller fractions of these fragments reach the planetary surface as meteorites as meteorites fall into many categories which includes iron, stone or a composition of both materials.