Extremely bright meteors are known as fireball. As they are all traveling parallel to each other it appears as if they are all coming from one location. In 1954 a woman in Sylcauga, Alabama, had to be taken to hospital after a 20kg rock came through the roof of her house.Ī meteor shower occurs when many meteoroids can be observed in the sky. There has only been one recorded incident of one injuring someone. It is estimated that tens of thousands of meteoroids hit the Earth’s surface every year, and many more burn up whilst travelling through the atmosphere. The part of the meteoroid that survives the journey through the Earth’s atmosphere and ultimately hits the ground is known as a meteorite. These are also known as shooting or falling stars. In addition, each year the Earth passes through the orbits of. Meteors and fireballs are commonly referred to as shooting stars. A fireball is a very bright meteor and may actually break up and drop meteorites. Meteoroids can be classified in two groups, iron or stony, based on their composition.Īs the meteoroid falls through the atmosphere, the temperature can increase, causing it to emit light. A meteor is the streak of light we see at night as a small meteoroid burns up passing through our atmosphere. The name comes from the Greek meteoros, meaning "high in the air". Most meteoroids come from the asteroid belt, but some can come from other nearby bodies, like the Moon. Objects smaller than meteoroids are known as dust. Meteoroids are defined by the International Astronomical Union as “a solid natural object of a size roughly between 30 micrometers and 1 meter moving in, or coming from, interplanetary space.” The dimensions listed are not upper and lower boundaries to the definition of a meteoroid, which is why the term "roughly" is used. A meteoroid is a solid object made of a similar composition to an asteroid but is much smaller in size.
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