A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach 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 atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy.
It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star or falling star; astronomers call the brightest examples "bolides". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater.
Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transit the atmosphere and impact the Earth are called meteorite falls. All others are known as meteorite finds.
Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites that are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals; iron meteorites that are largely composed of metallic iron-nickel; and stony-iron meteorites that contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material.
Generally meteorites are stony meteorites. Only about 6% of meteorites are iron meteorites or a blend of rock and metal, the stony-iron meteorites.
Most meteoroids disintegrate when entering the Earth's atmosphere. Usually, five to ten a year are observed to fall and are subsequently recovered and made known to scientists. Few meteorites are large enough to create large impact craters. Instead, they typically arrive at the surface at their terminal velocity and, at most, create a small pit.
Several phenomena are well documented during witnessed meteorite falls too small to produce hypervelocity craters. The fireball that occurs as the meteoroid passes through the atmosphere can appear to be very bright, rivaling the sun in intensity, although most are far dimmer and may not even be noticed during the daytime.
Most meteorite falls are recovered on the basis of eyewitness accounts of the fireball or the impact of the object on the ground, or both. Therefore, despite the fact that meteorites fall with virtually equal probability everywhere on Earth, verified meteorite falls tend to be concentrated in areas with high human population densities such as Europe, Japan, and northern India. #universe, #perfect universe, #galaxy#Mysteries
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid or meteoroid,
that originates in outer space and survive its passage through the atmosphere to reach
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 atmospheric gases
cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball,
also known as a shooting star or falling star. Astronomers call the brightest examples
as bolides. Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite.
Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create
an impact crater. Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transit the atmosphere
and impact the Earth are called meteorite falls, and others as known as meteorite finds.
Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories.
Stony meteorites that are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals.
Iron meteorites that are largely composed of metallic iron nickel.
And stony iron meteorites that contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material.
Generally meteorites are stony meteorites. Only about 6% of meteorites are iron meteorites or
a blend of rock and metal, the stony iron meteorites. Most meteorites disintegrate when
entering the Earth's atmosphere. Usually 5 to 10 a year are observed to fall and are subsequently
recovered and made known to scientists. Few meteorites are large enough to create large
impact craters. Instead, they typically arrive at the surface at their terminal velocity and,
at most, create a small pit. Several phenomena are well documented during
witnessed meteorite falls too small to produce hypervelocity craters.
The fireball that occurs as the meteorite passes through the atmosphere can appear to be very
bright, rivaling the sun in intensity, although most are far dimmer and may not even be noticed
during the daytime. Most meteorite falls are recovered on the basis of eyewitness accounts
of the fireball or the impact of the object on the ground, or both.
Therefore, despite the fact that meteorites fall with virtually equal probability everywhere on
Earth, verified meteorite falls tend to be concentrated in areas with high human population
densities, such as Europe, Japan and northern India.
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