Meteor

A meteor is the visible path of a meteoroid that enters the Earth's (or another body's) atmosphere, commonly called a shooting star. The visibility is due to the heat produced by the atmospheric entry. A very bright meteor, brighter than the apparent magnitude of Venus, may be called a fireball or bolide.

The Great Meteor Crater in Arizona, USA
Enlarge
The Great Meteor Crater in Arizona, USA

If a meteoroid survives its transit of the atmosphere to come to rest on the surface, the resulting object is called a meteorite. A meteor striking the Earth or other object may produce an impact crater.

A tektite
Enlarge

A tektite

Molten terrestrial material 'splashed' from such a crater can cool and solidify into an object known as a tektite


See also

Crater, Meteor shower,meteoroid, meteorite, tektite

Disambiguation


cs:Meteor et:Meteoor fi:Meteori he:מטאור hu:Meteor ja:流星 nl:Meteoor zh:流星

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia article. Browse Wikipedia for more information.