This Shiny web app let's you explore characteristics of over 30,000 terrestrial meteorites.
- Check out the web app here.
- Check out the blog post here.
- Check out the raw data in NASA's open data portal.
When a piece of debris from an object (such as a comet or asteroid ) enters the atmosphere of a planet or moon (such as Earth), it becomes a meteor as it descends towards the surface. If the meteor survives passage all the way to the planet or moon’s surface, it is then considered a meteorite.
See where meterorites were found across the globe. Countries were derived using this reverse geocoder by Ajay Thampi.
Meterorites can be classified on whether or not a person saw their descent to Earth. A meteorite that someone witnessed falling to Earth and then successfully tracked down is classified as fall or fell. One that was determined to be a meteorite by examination of its properties is classified as found. See Wikipedia for more.
Meteorites are classified by their physical, chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical properties, with the goal of grouping them ultimately by their origin (rocks from the same source should be made of similar stuff). See Wikipedia for more.
Masses in this dataset represent the total known weights of the meterorites. The Meteoritical Society website notes that they are note authoritative and may be rounded off.
My name is Julie Levine. I’m a graduate from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania. In a past life, I was a marketer and product manager for tech startups Fatual and Datadog. Presently, I’m a Data Science Fellow at NYC Data Science Academy. Check out more of my projects on the NYC Data Science Academy blog. Learn more about me on LinkedIn.