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A meteoroid shown entering the atmosphere, causing a visible meteor and hitting the Earth's surface, becoming a meteorite. A meteoroid ( / ˈmiːtiərɔɪd / MEE-tee-ə-royd) [1] is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space . Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects ...
Meteorite. The 60- tonne, 2.7 m-long (8.9 ft) Hoba meteorite in Namibia is the largest known intact meteorite. [1] A meteorite is a rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the ...
Meteoritics [note 1] is the science that deals with meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids. [note 2] [2] [3] It is closely connected to cosmochemistry, mineralogy and geochemistry. A specialist who studies meteoritics is known as a meteoriticist. [4]
Recent examples of superbolides include the Sutter's Mill meteorite and the Chelyabinsk meteor. T. Taenite – a native metal (mineral) found in meteorites. Tamdakht – a meteorite that fell near Ouarzazate, Morocco on 2008-12-20 producing a strewn field of approximately 25 km (16 mi) by 2 km (1.2 mi) and two small impact craters.
Meteor shower. A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories.
Leonids. The Leonids ( / ˈliːənɪdz / LEE-ə-nidz) are a prolific annual meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle, and are also known for their spectacular meteor storms that occur about every 33 years. [5] The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo: the meteors appear to radiate ...
A meteor air burst is a type of air burst in which a meteoroid explodes after entering a planetary body's atmosphere. This fate leads them to be called fireballs or bolides, with the brightest air bursts known as superbolides. Such meteoroids were originally asteroids and comets of a few to several tens of meters in diameter.
Chondrite. Small to medium asteroids that were never part of a body large enough to undergo melting and planetary differentiation. A chondrite / ˈkɒndraɪt / is a stony (non- metallic) meteorite that has not been modified, by either melting or differentiation of the parent body. [a] [1] They are formed when various types of dust and small ...