Space rock on my mantlepiece

[M Holmes]

Brian Halligan writes:

> > I'm puzzled by that. Surely anything knocked off the Moon by meteoric
> > impact would already be in an Earth-crossing orbit. Seems therefore
> > much
> > more likely that these would hit Earth than the same situation on Mars.
>
> Perhaps Moon rocks are harder for the average person to identify as
> "otherworldly" and therefore fewer are brought to the attention of
> those who study meteorites?

There could be an element of this. The mechanics of meteorite collection
run a little against it being a large factor. Basically meteorites are
eithe spotted coming in as a fireball and then fragments recovered on
the ground, or they're actively searched for in terrain where they can
be spotted, such as sand deserts and ice sheets. Identification is
usually made by evidence of heat or shocking on a piece of rock, which
would apply as much to Lunar meteorites as Mars ones.

There was an astronomer in the house. Was it John McIntyre?

FoFP