Research led by Trevor Ireland, The University of Queensland

The sight of a fireball streaking across the sky brings wonder and excitement to children and adults alike. It's a reminder that Earth is part of a much larger and incredibly dynamic system.

Each year, roughly 17,000 of these fireballs not only enter Earth's atmosphere, but survive the perilous journey to the surface. This gives scientists a valuable chance to study these rocky visitors from outer space.

Scientists know that while some of these meteorites come from the Moon and Mars, the majority come from asteroids. But two separate studies published in Nature today have gone a step further. The research was led by Miroslav Brož from Charles University in the Czech Republic, and Michaël Marsset from the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

The papers trace the origin of most meteorites to just a handful of asteroid breakup events - and possibly even individual asteroids. In turn, they build our understanding of the events that shaped the history of the Earth - and the entire solar system.