Most strange, heavy rocks turn out to be meteorwrongs. Meteorite Check screens your find in a few minutes, honestly, so you know whether it is worth testing before you spend a cent.
Now available on iOS and Android
Free screening. Optional photo analysis from $1.99. No subscription required.
The app tells you where your rock lands, and what to do next. No false hope, no pressure. A screening can flag a candidate. Only a lab test can confirm one.
Answer a few quick questions about your rock: how it reacts to a magnet, its heft, the color of its streak, whether it has a crust.
Optional. Add a photo and the analysis reads the rock itself, calling out the specific features that raise its potential or the specific reasons it is not a meteorite. You choose whether to share one.
See where your find lands on the scale, the reasoning behind it, and a clear next step if it is worth a proper test.
The screening is always free and tells you where your rock lands. Add a photo and the optional analysis goes further. It reads the rock itself, feature by feature, and explains the result instead of just scoring it.
The analysis works with the screening, not around it. It adds detail and explains your result. It cannot turn a look-alike into a meteorite, and only a laboratory can confirm a real one. Optional, from $1.99. No subscription required.
Most rocks people suspect are meteorites turn out to be ordinary earth rocks or man-made slag. The good news: you can rule out the common look-alikes yourself, at home, before spending anything on testing. Here is what real meteorites tend to share, and the quick checks that separate a genuine candidate from a meteorwrong.
Read the full guide: How to tell if a rock is a meteorite. It covers the streak test, the common meteorwrongs in detail, and what to do if your rock passes.
Most suspected meteorites are ordinary earth rocks. Real meteorites are usually denser than normal rock, attract a magnet, may show a dark fusion crust from atmospheric heating, and have no holes or air bubbles. They do not contain quartz crystals or visible layering. A few quick at-home checks rule out the common look-alikes before you pay for lab testing.
Most meteorites contain iron and attract a magnet, so a strong pull from a cheap ceramic magnet is a good sign. But many ordinary earth rocks like magnetite and hematite are also magnetic, so a magnet test alone cannot confirm a meteorite. Use it to rule things in, not to prove them.
A meteorwrong is a rock people think is a meteorite but is not. Common meteorwrongs include slag from industrial furnaces, magnetite, hematite, and dense iron-bearing earth rocks. Telltale signs include gas bubbles or holes, quartz crystals, a red-brown streak on unglazed tile, or visible layering.
No. No photo or at-home test can confirm a meteorite. Only a hands-on examination and, where needed, laboratory analysis can confirm one. Screening can flag a strong candidate worth testing and rule out the rocks that clearly are not meteorites, which saves you the cost of testing a meteorwrong.
Yes. The step-by-step screening is free, on the web and in the app, with no download required to use it. An optional photo analysis is available as a one-time purchase, but the screening that tells you whether your rock is worth testing is always free.
Most rock identifier apps will happily tell you what you want to hear, then put the answer behind a subscription. This one does not. The screening is free, and it is built to be honest, even when the honest answer is that your rock came from a parking lot, not from space.
A photo and a few questions cannot prove a meteorite. Nothing can, short of a hands-on examination and, where needed, a laboratory test. So Meteorite Check does the part it can do well: it rules out the obvious meteorwrongs and flags the genuine candidates, so you only spend money on testing when there is a real reason to.
Meteorite Check comes from Treasure Coast Meteorite Co., a working meteorite dealer. The screening logic reflects how a specimen is actually examined, the tests that matter and the traps that fool people, rather than a generic image guess.
Treasure Coast Meteorite Co. · IMCA Member #3323
When a finder reaches a strong-candidate result, Meteorite Check can hand the screening summary straight to a participating laboratory. The finder taps the referral button, sees the labs currently taking submissions, and sends their result and contact details to the one they choose.
We are building that list now and adding commercial labs that classify or test meteorites. If your lab wants qualified referrals from finders who have already been screened, get in touch and we will walk you through how listing works.
Get your lab listedOr email contact@meteoritecheck.com directly.