ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Stony-iron meteorite

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a shooting star? Well, sometimes those shooting stars are actually pieces of rock that come from space and fall to Earth. These rocks are called meteorites.

Now, some meteorites are made of just rock, some are made of just metal, and some are made of a mix of both rock and metal. The ones that are a mix are called stony-iron meteorites.

These meteorites formed way back when the solar system was just starting to form. They were created by the collisions of different objects in space. The stony-iron meteorites have a unique texture because of the way the metal and rock mixed together during their formation.

Scientists study these meteorites to learn more about the early days of our solar system and how the planets formed. It's pretty cool stuff!