Purpose

In addition, this database is a clearinghouse for basic information about each meteorite, including the classification, place and year of discovery, whether if was observed to fall, references to catalogues in which the meteorite is described, and known synonyms that may be encountered in the literature. The catalogues that are indexed here, including the Catalogue of Meteorites from the Natural History Museum in London, the commercial program MetBase, the Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, and the Meteoritical Bulletin contain detailed information about the meteorites, including narratives of the discovery, mineralogy, petrology, specimen locations, chemical and isotopic composition, and references to the literature.

A seconday purpose of this database is to provide an interface to map services for the display of geographic information about meteorites. Two are currently implemented here. If the user has installed the free NASA program World Wind, links are provided for each meteorite to zoom the program to the find location. The database also provides links to the Google Maps service for the display of find locations.

Construction of the database

In cases where data in the Catalogue and MetBase differ, both are listed in the present database. These two compilations both rely on the Meteoritical Bulletin for information on new meteorites. The reasons for disagreement are varied, and may include typographical errors or attempts by the authors to incorporate literature data (especially on classification) that post-date the original entry in the Meteoritical Bulletin. No attempt is made here to arbitrate these discrepancies. Instead, a "recommended" value is given, which is based solely on the opinions of the compiler of the present database (Grossman).

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