Straight flight of meteorites

Meteorites are fascinating for the information they bring as alien visitors to Earth, and their shapes also give clues to their fiery flight through the atmosphere. Meteors are melted and reshaped by aerodynamic heating, and while most of the resulting meteorites are rather arbitrarily shaped, a surprisingly large number resemble nearly prefect cones. Using lab experiments on model meteorites of various shapes, we show that these conical forms are distinguished by their robust stability during straight flight through a fluid. We use our findings to suggest possible origin stories for conical meteorites, whose final shapes reflect the simultaneous aerodynamic processes of reshaping and reorientation during flight.