A meteorite, especially a stony meteorite that falls from space to Earth's surface.
From aero- (air) + -lite (stone). Coined in the early 19th century, the term reflects the belief that meteorites came from the air/sky, with -lite being a common suffix for stones in geology.
People didn't believe aerolites were real until the early 1800s—scientists thought reporting 'stones from the sky' was superstitious nonsense, until so many fell and were collected that denial became impossible!
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