meteor

A meteor is a space rock that hits the atmosphere of the Earth. It's also another word for a
shooting star.
There are a lot of bodies in space, such as suns, planets, and moons. Those are all rather large,
but there are smaller bodies too, such as meteors. A meteor is a smaller body in space that
collides with the Earth or another planet. You can also use this word for the light caused by such
an impact: a meteor is a shooting star. Many meteors are caused by comets that have decayed.

What is a Meteorite?
meteorite is a fragment of rock or iron from outer space, usually a meteoroid or asteroid, which
survives passage through the atmosphere as a meteor to impact the surface of the
Earth. Meteorites are believed to originate in the asteroid belt between the planets of Mars and
Jupiter. A meteorite may range in size from less than a gram to more than 60 tons.
When the path of these space rocks intersects with Earth's orbit, the meteoroid enters the
atmosphere at high velocity causing the luminous phenomena we call a meteor or shooting star.
These meteors should not be confused with a meteor shower. Meteor showers involve the Earth
passing through a comets orbit.
A very bright meteor is called a fireball and may be called a bolide if associated with a smoke
train and detonations (which often produces meteorites). These events can also be tremendous
force of nature. The recent Russian meteor sonic boom and shock wave on February 15, 2013
caused considerable property damage and injury to people.
Sometimes the forces on these objects are too great and fragmentation will occur resulting in a
few to even many thousands of individual pieces. The area on the ground surface meteorites
cover is a distribution ellipse also know as a strewn field.
As the meteoroid passes through the atmosphere, ablation occurs where melting and
vaporization removes material from the surface. This ablation can also produce regmaglyphs
which are flight marks produced during the passage of a meteoroid through the atmosphere and
often look like thumbprints pushed into the surface. This melting of the exterior surface from
heating due to it's high velocity through Earth's atmosphere is also what causes the fusion crust
seen on the exterior of meteorites. These factors help us with meteorite identification because
the exterior features of space rocks are different from that of Earth rocks.
An oriented meteorite is formed when it's passage through the atmosphere is in a stable
orientation. It receives the characteristic ablation features from being melted mostly on one
surface. Among these features are a rounded front surface or a cone shape and often radial lines
of melting in the front surface, and a rolled over lip of melted material which has cooled around
the circumference of the back side.
On very rare occasions large meteoroids will reach the ground with enough velocity and mass to
form an impact crater. The best preserved impact crater today is Meteor Crater in Arizona.
Associated with impact structures and craters is a type of rock called an impactite. This glassy
rock, also called crater glass, is formed from the melting of native rocks during the impact of

asteroids. A second glassy object associated with impact events but much less understood are
tektites. A tektite is a natural glass object formed by the melting of native rocks during some
asteroid impacts. Some tektites, the Australites, receive aerodynamic shapes as the still plastic
but cooling glass falls back to the surface from very high altitude. Muong Nong tektite glass may
be from a melt sheet formed near the impact site.

Meteoroids
Isn't that amazing?
Meteoroids burn up in the atmosphere and fall to the Earth as dust. Every day, approximately
3000 metric tons of dusty space material falls to Earth.
A meteoroid is a piece of stony or metallic debris which travels in outer space. Meteoroids travel
around the Sun in a variety of orbits and at various speeds. The fastest meteoroids move at
about 42 kilometers per second. Most meteoroids are about the size of a pebble. When one of
these pieces of debris enters the Earth's atmosphere, friction between the debris and
atmospheric gases heats it to the point that it glows and becomes visible to our eyes. This streak
of light in the sky is known as a meteor. Most meteors glow for only a few seconds prior to
burning up before hitting the Earth's surface. On most dark nights, meteors can be seen. The
chance of seeing a meteor with the unaided eye increases after midnight. People often refer to
meteors as "falling" or "shooting" stars. The brightest of the meteors are called fireballs. Sonic
booms often follow the appearance of a fireball just as thunder often follows lightning. At certain
times of the year, more meteors than normal can be seen. When the Earth passes through an
orbiting stream of debris from a comet that has broken up, what's known as a meteor shower
occurs. Meteor showers take place on about the same dates each year.
If the meteor does not burn up completely, the remaining portion hits the Earth and is then
called a meteorite. Over 100 meteorites hit the Earth each year. Fortunately, most of them are
very small. There has only been one report of a "HBM" (hit by meteorite), and that occurred in
1954. Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama was slightly injured when a 19.84 kilogram meteorite
crashed through the roof of her home. The larger meteorites are believed to have originated in
the asteroid belt. Some of the smaller meteorites have been identified as moon rock, while still
others have been identified as pieces of Mars. Large meteorites that crashed onto the Earth long
ago made craters like those found on the Moon. The Barringer Meteorite Crater near Winslow,
Arizona is believed to have been formed about 49,000 years ago by the impact of a 300,000 ton
meteorite. The Hoba iron meteorite is the largest single meteorite known. Its present weight is
estimated at 66 tons. Part of the Hoba meteorite has rusted away, therefore it's original weight
may have been as much as 100 tons! It has never been removed from its landing sight in
Namibia. The largest single meteorite found in the United States is the fifteen ton Willamette
(Oregon) iron meteorite found in 1902.

Meteor Showers and Shooting Stars: Formation, Facts and

Discovery
Meteor showers occur when dust or particles from asteroids or comets enter Earth's atmosphere
at very high speed. When they hit the atmosphere, meteors rub against air particles and create
friction, heating the meteors. The heat vaporizes most meteors, creating what we call shooting
stars.

Most meteors become visible at around 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) up. Some large meteors
splatter, causing a brighter flash called a fireball, which can often be seen during the day and
heard up to 30 miles (48 km) away. On average, meteors can speed through the atmosphere at
about 30,000 mph (48,280 kph) and reach temperatures of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit
(1,648 degrees Celsius).
Most meteors are very small, some as tiny as a grain of sand, so they disintegrate in the air.
Larger ones that reach the Earth's surface are called meteorites and are rare.
Impact with Earth
When meteorites do hit the ground, their speed roughly half what it was upon entry, they blast
out craters 12 to 20 times their size. Craters on Earth form much as they would on the moon or
any rocky planet. Smaller objects create bowl-shaped craters. Larger impacts cause a rebound
that creates a central peak; slipping along the rim forms terraces. The largest impacts form
basins in which multiple rebounds form several inner peaks.
Large meteors can explode above the surface, causing widespread damage from the blast and
ensuing fire. This happened in 1908 over Siberia, in whats called the Tunguska event. On June
30, 1908, across hundreds of miles, witnesses saw a ball of fire streak through the sky,
suggesting the meteor entered the atmosphere at an oblique angle. It exploded, sending out hot
winds and loud noises and shook the ground enough to break windows in nearby villages. Small
particles blown into the atmosphere lit the night sky for several days. No meteorite was ever
found, and for years many scientists thought the devastation was caused by a comet. Now, the
prevailing theory holds that a meteor exploded just above the surface.
A similar event occurred over Chelyabinsk, Russia, when a 17-meter rock exploded 12 to 15
miles above the Earth's surface on Feb. 15, 2013, damaging buildings and injuring more than
1,000 people. According to a statement by Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario in
Canada, "The energy of the resulting explosion exceeded 470 kilotons of TNT" 30 to 40 times
more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World
War II.
Although the Russian event brought into focus the possible danger Earth could suffer from space
rocks, most meteors don't cause nearly as much damage.
This view of comet Halley's nucleus was obtained by the Halley Multicolour Camera (HMC) on
board the Giotto spacecraft, as it passed within 600 km of the comet nucleus on March 13, 1986.
This view of comet Halley's nucleus was obtained by the Halley Multicolour Camera (HMC) on
board the Giotto spacecraft, as it passed within 600 km of the comet nucleus on March 13, 1986.
History
In ancient times, objects in the night sky conjured superstition and were associated with gods
and religion. But misunderstandings about meteors lasted longer than they did about most other
celestial objects.
Meteorites (the pieces that make it to Earth) were long ago thought to be cast down as gifts from
angels. Others thought the gods were displaying their anger. As late as the 17th century, many
believed they fell from thunderstorms (they were nicknamed "thunderstones"). Many scientists

were skeptical that stones could fall from the clouds or the heavens, and often they simply didn't
believe the accounts of people who claimed to have seen such things.
In 1807, a fireball exploded over Connecticut, and several meteorites rained down. By then the
first handful of asteroids had been discovered, and a new theory emerged suggesting meteorites
were broken bits off asteroids or other planets. (A theory that still holds.)
The largest meteorite recovered in the United States fell in a wheat field in southern Nebraska in
1948. Witnesses saw a giant fireball in the afternoon that some said was brighter than the sun.
The meteorite was found buried 10 feet deep in the ground. It weighed 2,360 pounds.
The most famous meteorite crater in the United States is misnamed Meteor Crater. It's in
Arizona, and it's huge. The rim rises 150 feet from the surrounding plain, and the hole is 600 feet
deep and nearly a mile wide. It was the first crater that was proven to be caused by a meteorite
impact, which occurred between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago.

Meteor showers to watch out for

Meteors are often seen falling from the sky alone one here, one there. But there are certain
times in a year when dozens or even hundreds of meteors per hour will light up the sky,
seemingly coming from one part of the sky, radiating in all directions, and falling toward Earth
one after the other.
People living in the Northern Hemisphere are in the best position to observe the most beautiful
meteor showers. For example, North America is right below the region of the sky where the
January Quadrantids shower appears.
A bright moon can dim the prospect of seeing a good meteor shower, drowning out all but the
brightest meteors. Local light pollution dampens prospects, too, so the best place to view a
meteor shower is from out in a rural location.
Most meteor showers are best viewed in the pre-dawn hours, when the part of Earth you are
standing on is facing the direction of Earths orbit. Its like bugs hitting a car's windshield. In the
late evening hours, on the other hand, the meteors are less frequent loosely akin to bugs
hitting a cars rear bumper.
Best time of year for meteor showers
Meteor showers can be seen at different times of the year depending on when Earth is going to
pass through the comet's or asteroid's path. Some meteor showers happen annually; others only
appear over a period of several years, while some of the best shows meteor storms happen
just once or twice in a lifetime.

Weather can also hamper a good view of meteor showers. A clear sky is a gift to night gazers,
which is why meteor showers during the summer are more anticipated than those that fall in the
winter months.