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Where do most meteorites that reach Earth come from?

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Meteor and meteoroid The Cabin Creek meteorite, an iron (nickel-iron alloy) meteorite that was observed to fall in northwestern Arkansas on March 27, 1886. Its characteristic pattern of “thumbprint” dimples, or regmaglypts, is the result of melting and consequent ablation of its surface as it traveled through the atmosphere. The meteorite is likely a fragment of one of the M class asteroids, which show significant nickel-iron in their surface material.

Most meteorites that reach Earth originate from the asteroid belt, a region located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.12

Scientific evidence indicates that the vast majority of meteorites recovered on Earth are fragments of asteroids from the inner portion of this belt. These fragments are often the result of collisions between larger asteroids, which create debris that can be shifted into Earth-crossing orbits through gravitational resonances with planets, particularly Jupiter.231

While asteroids are the primary source of the meteorites found in collections, a very small fraction—less than 1 percent—are believed to originate from the Moon or Mars. Additionally, while comets contribute significantly to the population of micrometeorites that drift through the upper atmosphere, it is generally not believed that cometary material survives the journey through the atmosphere to exist in significant quantities within meteorite collections.32