I believe that I may have found a meteorite; how do I know if it is in fact a meteorite or just a rock....?

Question

I have a black very heavy rock that has metal like qualities. It has a number of small wholes and is smoothed like it was worn by some process or another. It is also slightly magnetic.

sp. holes

Answer 1

Your description does make it sound like it would be a nickel-iron meteorite. If you want to be sure, take it to a astronomy club in your area, or to a geologist or a physicist in a local university.
It may have a fairly high value, both as scientific object and as a collector item.
Was it buried under ground?

Answer 2

Unless you live in an area where iron ore is mined the rock probably is a meteorite.

You probably cannot prove it alone, however. Take it to a university large enough to have either an astronomy department or at least a professor of astronomy. To prove a rock is a meteorite the rock will have to be sliced into pieces (in half, so to speak..but one half may be quite small) and etched, to see if the Wiedmanstatten figures (internal crystalline structures) are present: if so then it is a meteorite. Be sure to be able to tell exactly where it was found!

Answer 3

if it is a meteorite, the spot where you found it would likely be a crater, unless the rock was somehow moved. it would also be melted on one side, which would would have been caused by the extreme heat from the rock entering earth's atmosphere.

Answer 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite