Meteors

lets know about meteors in detailed

only content and with some pictures about meteors

meteoroid[in space] : a meteoroid is a small,rocky,or metallic body orbiting the sun in outer space. they are typically fragments of comets or asteroids,ranging in size from a dust grain to about one meter.this is the abjects first stage,moving at high speed[up to 72 km/s] before it encounters a planetary atmosphere.

meteor[in atmosphere] : a meteor is the bright streak of light, popularly called a ''shooting star.''this occurs when a meteoroid enters earths atmosphere [usually at 100120 km altitude] and violently compresses the the air in front of it. the resulting pressure and friction cause the surrounding air and the objects surface to heat up and glow. the immense majority of these objects are small and vaporize completely. extremely bright meteors are classified as fireballs or bolides.

meteorite [ on earths surface ] : a meteorite is the portion of the orginal meteoroid that survives the atmosphere entry and successfully lands on earths surface . only larger,more durable objects make it to this stage,retaining only a small percentage of their original mass. meteorites are often identified by a dark,glassy layer called a fusion crust and are cold or only slightly warm when they land. they are scirentifically classified as stony,iron,or stony-iron meteorite.

meteor showers : a meteor shower is a predictable,annual phenomenon where earth passes through a dense stream of cosmic debris left behind by a specific comet.as numerous meteoroids enter the atmosphere simutaneosly, they creat a dramatic display of many meteors appearing to radiate from a single point in the sky, know as the radiant. showers are named after the constellation where their radiant lies[e.g.; the persids].

when meteors burn up in the atmosphere, they display a variety of colors depending on they chemical composition and the gases they interact with.lets us know in step by step breakdown:

As a meteoroid [a space rock] enters earths atmosphere at high speed, it experiences intense friction and compression.this causes the air in front of it to heat up dramatically.

The extreme heat causes the surface of the meteoroid to to ablate, meaning it vaporizes and sheds material, along with the superheated air, becomes ionized, creating a glowing plasma trail.

the excited and ions in the plasma trail emit light at specific wavelenths, which we perceive as different colors. the color we see depends primarily on the the chemical elements present in the meteoroid and the surrounding atmosphere, as well as the temperature.

Red : often indicates the presence of nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the earths atmosphere, which glow red when excited by associated with passage. it can also be associated with iron from the meteoriod itself, especially at lower temperatures.

these colors typically come from sodium atoms, either from the meteoroids composition or existing in the upper atmosphere. iron can also produce yellowish hues, especially at moderate temperatures.

Green light in a meteor trail is the most commonly produced by magnesium. when magnesium atoms in the meteoroid vaporize and get excited, they emit a distinct green glow.oxygen in the atmosphere can also contribute to green colors at certain altitudes.

The origin - An asteroid in space : The story begins in the Asteroid Belt with a massive iron-nickel asteroid, estimated to be about 50 meters [160 feet] in diameter. this space rock, the parent body of the canyon diablo meteorites, was orbiting the sun for billions of years before its trajectory intersected earths path.

approximately 50,000 years ago, during the pleistocene epoch, the massive space rock slammed into earths atmoshpere. it becomes a brilliiant, supersonic meter- or fireball- streaking across the ancient skies of north america before impacting the arizona desert.

the meteorite struck the colorado plateau travelling at speed of over 12 kilometers [7.5 miles] per second. the force of the impact was so immense it was equivalent to 150 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on hiroshima.most of the meteorite instantly vaporised, but the hypervelocity collision created a masssive explosion, scattering fragments over a wide area.

the explosion excavated a massive bow-shaped cavity in the desert rock.today, resulting meteor crater [also known as barringer crater ] is a mile [1.2 km] wide and 560feet [170 m] deep,and is considered the best - preserved impact crater on earth.

decades after american settlers discovered the crater, numerous iron fragments wre found scattered around the rim. the meteorite wre offially named canyon diablo after the adjacent canyon,which was closest settlement at the time.

Early prospectors and scientists collected tens of thousands of fragments over the years.these iron-nickel masses,which varied wildly in size, provided the frist material proof that the immense hole in the ground was indeed caused by ameteorite impact.

intially,scientists believed the craster was a result of volcanic steam.mining engineer daniel barringer championed the impact theory and attemted to drill for the main mass of the meteorite [unaware that it had mostly vaporized], cementing the craters place in scientific history.

final scientific confirmation of the impact came from the discovery of rare miberals like coesite and stishovite, and the presence of shocked quartz. these forms of siliica are only created under the extreme heat and pressure of a high-velocity impact, proving the craters extraterrestrial origin.

when fragements of the iron meteorite are cut, polished, and etched with acid, they reveal a charactestic crystalline structure called the widemanstatten pattern. this intergrowth of nickel-iron alloys is unique to iron meteorites and demonstrates their slow cooling over millions of years in space.

while the single largest piece of the canyon diablo meteorite [ teh holesinger meteorite] weighs 639 kg and is displayed at the crater, another historic fragment weighs 226.8 kg [500 ibs] and museum,illustrating the immense size of the recoverable pieces.

Meteor served as an analog for the moon, playing a vital role in american history.Apollo astronauts, including those from the apollo 11 , mission, trained at the crater in the 1960s to learn about geology and how to coolect rock samples in an unfamiliar, rugged environment.

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