Is this a meteorite?

Answer

Dear Tanya,

Unfortunately, your photo is not clear enough to determine at first sight whether your rock is a meteorite or not.

From what I can see, it doesn’t look like a meteorite to me, rather a sandstone with iron oxide (rust) seepage. I even think I see cavities with quartz or calcite crystals.

Taking the stone to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels is of course the best option, but I’ll give you a few tips to get started yourself:

Examine the stone thoroughly from all sides.

– Are there any pieces of the exterior that appear burnt and/or melted?

– Does it contain iron? With a magnet you can find out whether there is iron in the stone, iron attracts a magnet.
‘Pure’ (not oxidized, not corroded) iron is very rare on Earth.

– Does the stone feel heavy? Because meteorites usually contain a lot of iron, they are relatively heavy in relation to their volume compared to stones of the same size (without iron).

If the answer to the three questions above is ‘yes’, the chance that it is indeed a meteorite is slightly higher.

Suppose you want to go a bit further with your research, then you can test whether there is calcium in it with a drop of hydrochloric acid (HCl, very acidic so be careful, this burns the skin). If the rock fizzes (like an effervescent tablet) then you know for sure it’s not a meteorite (although I think it’s a sandstone or maybe quartzite that doesn’t fizz, you can test that too).

Know that the chances are very, very slim that you have found a meteorite; you would be the seventh ever to find a real meteorite in Belgium. 99.99% of the ‘meteorites’ that we receive, turn out not to be that after research.
But of course you never know…

Good luck with your research, maybe see you at the museum!

Best regards,

Jeroen Venderickx