How does a meteor differs from a meteorite? Description, examples of meteors and meteorites

Let's talk about how a meteor differs from a meteorite in order to know the mystery and uniqueness of the starry sky. To the stars people trust their most cherished desires, but it will be about other celestial bodies.

Features of the meteor

The term "meteor" is associated with phenomena occurring in the earth's atmosphere, in which foreign bodies invade it at a significant speed. The particles are so small that they are rapidly destroyed by friction.

Do the meteors hit the surface of the earth? The description of these celestial bodies, proposed by astronomers, is limited to indicating a short-term glowing strip of light in the starry sky. Scientists call them "falling stars".

Characteristics of meteorites

Meteorite is the remains of a meteoric body that hits the surface of our planet. Depending on the composition, there is a subdivision of these celestial bodies into three types: stone, iron, iron-stone.

Differences between heavenly bodies

How does a meteor differs from a meteorite? For a long time this question remained a mystery to astronomers, an occasion for conducting observations and research.

After the invasion of the earth's atmosphere, the meteors lose their mass. Before the combustion process, the mass of this celestial object does not exceed ten grams. This value is so insignificant in comparison with the size of the Earth that from the fall of the meteor there will be no consequences.

Meteorites that fall on our planet have a significant weight. Chelyabinsk meteorite, which fell to the surface on February 15, 2013, according to experts, had a weight of about ten tons.

The diameter of this celestial body was 17 meters, the speed of movement exceeded 18 km / s. Chelyabinsk meteorite began to explode at an altitude of about twenty kilometers, and the total duration of its flight did not exceed forty seconds. The power of the explosion was thirty times higher than the bombing in Hiroshima, resulting in numerous pieces and debris that fell on the Chelyabinsk land. So, arguing over what a meteor differs from a meteorite, first of all, let us note their mass.

The largest meteorite was an object discovered in the early twentieth century in Namibia. Its weight was sixty tons.

Frequency of fall

How does a meteor differs from a meteorite? Let's continue the conversation about the differences between these heavenly bodies. In the atmosphere of the earth, only a day there are flashes of hundreds of millions of meteors. In case of clear weather, about 5-10 "falling stars" can be observed in an hour, which are actually meteors.

Meteorites also quite often fall on our planet, but most of them are burned during the journey. For a day several hundred such celestial bodies hit the surface of the earth. Due to the fact that most of them land in the desert, seas, oceans, they are not found by researchers. Scientists manage to study only a small number of these celestial bodies for a year (up to five). Answering the question about what meteorites and meteorites have in common, one can note their composition.

Danger of falling

Small particles that make up the meteoroid body are capable of causing serious harm. They render the surface of space vehicles unfit for use, they can disable the operation of their energy systems.

It is difficult to assess the real danger that meteorites carry. On the surface of the planet after their fall remains a huge number of "scars" and "wounds". If such a celestial body is large, after its impact on the Earth, the axis may shift, which will negatively affect the climate.

In order to fully appreciate the magnitude of the problem, we can give an example of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite. He fell into the taiga, causing serious damage to the territory of several thousand square kilometers. If this territory were inhabited by people, it would be possible to talk about a real catastrophe.

The meteor is a light phenomenon, which is often observed in the starry sky. In translation from the Greek language, this word means "heavenly". The meteorite is a solid body of cosmic origin. Translated into Russian, the term sounds like a "stone from the sky."

Scientific research

In order to understand how comets differ from meteorites and meteors, we will analyze the results of scientific research. Astronomers managed to find out that after the meteor hits the terrestrial layers of the atmosphere, their flare occurs. In the combustion process, a luminous trace consisting of ionized gas remains . Particles of the meteor are extinguished approximately at an altitude of seventy kilometers from the earth's surface. The comet leaves a "tail" in the starry sky. Its core is the core, which includes dust and ice. In addition, the comet may contain the following substances: carbon dioxide, ammonia, organic impurities. The dust tail, which it leaves during its movement, consists of particles of gaseous substances.

Falling into the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere, fragments of destroyed cosmic bodies or dust particles heat up from friction and flare up. The smallest of them immediately burn, and the large, continuing to fall, leave behind a luminous trace of ionized gas. They go out, reaching a distance of about seventy kilometers from the surface of the earth.

The duration of the outbreak is determined by the mass of this celestial body. In case of combustion of large meteors, you can admire bright flashes for several minutes. This is what astronomers call a starry rain. In the case of a meteor shower in one hour, you can see about a hundred burning meteors. If the celestial body is large in size, in the process of moving through a dense earth's atmosphere, it does not burn and gets to the surface of the planet. Up to the Earth does not reach more than ten percent of the initial weight of the meteorite.

Iron meteorites contain a considerable amount of nickel and iron. The basis of stone celestial bodies are silicates: olivine and pyroxene. Iron-stone bodies have almost equal amounts of silicates and nickel-iron.

Conclusion

People at all times of their existence tried to study the heavenly bodies. Calendars were made for the stars, weather conditions were determined, they tried to predict fates, they were afraid of the starry sky.

After the appearance of various types of telescopes, astronomers managed to solve many secrets and mysteries of the starry sky. Comets, meteors, meteorites were studied in detail, the main distinctive and similar features between these celestial bodies were determined. For example, the largest meteorite that hit the surface of the earth was the iron Goba. His scientists discovered in South America, its weight was about sixty tons. The Halley comet is considered the most famous in the solar system. It is connected with the discovery of the law of universal gravitation.