[meteorite-list] Meteoroids Before Meteorites

[Eric Wichman]

Hi all,

While looking at photos of our most recent extraterrestrial visitor, the 
West meteorite, I was wondering what the "meteoroid" looked like while 
floating around in space... Look how nice and white this piece is on the 
"inside". http://www.rocksfromspace.org/133g_Interior.JPG Fusion crust 
is only formed while entering our planets atmosphere. Meaning that this 
meteorite was obviously whitish in color while still a meteoroid. Right?

Space is a vacuum, and a vacuum preserves things right? Look at the moon 
and all the wonderful craters and how wonderfully preserved they are. 
The moon never changes color except when viewed through our atmosphere. 
 From space it looks the same as it did millions of years ago.

Does this mean that the West meteoroid, while in space and "before" it 
hit our planet, was white? I mean, it's not like the minerals that make 
up the meteoroid change colors before hitting our planet. Right?

I guess the reason I ask this is that we all see photos of asteroids 
that are dark gray, gray-black or brown blobs of space rock floating 
around the solar system. I think our perception of meteorites are quite 
different. We tend to think of rocks from space as dark rocks floating 
around aimlessly and randomly bumping into one another occasionally 
sending pieces our way to be pulled in by our planets gravity.

Are there huge white rocks floating around out there? And if so, 
wouldn't they be slightly easier to spot than a dark blob of an asteroid?

I hope these aren't dumb questions.

Eric