Meteoritics

From the beginning of the nineteenth century forward, meteoritics progressed steadily to an exacting and highly interdisciplinary field.

Following the precedents set in previous editions of the Catalogue of Meteorites, it is not the intention of this Introduction to discuss the science of meteoritics, but simply to provide a summary of the nomenclature and classification of meteorites and the system of entries adopted.

Meteoritics, the laboratory study of meteorites, was regarded as our best window on events at the time of the origin of the planets even before their age could be measured.[…]Recently, discoveries in both meteoritics and asteroid research have brought forward several interesting connections with comets, and even the Voyager revelation of the nature of ice-rich satellites has influenced our understanding of meteorite origins.