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Meteors

 

             While many people think of meteors as a shooting start or something falling from the sky, which is somewhat correct but misunderstandings about meteors have lasted longer than most other celestial objects. The word meteor comes from the Greek word meteoron, which means "a thing in the sky." (Spaceacademy.com). Larger meteors are sometimes broken off pieces from an asteroid and according to ancient times, objects flying through the night sky are a major controversy. .
             When meteors fly through the atmosphere, they become heated up to more than 3000 degrees Fahrenheit in that causes them to glow (Space.com). While many have the impression that friction causes heat, they are incorrect in the fact that heat is produced when air is compressed in front of the meteor. Sometimes the intense heat vaporizes the meteors creating a shooting star. .
             Composition, speed, and the angle of entry are three characteristics that decide whether the meteor will break or hold together. A meteor coming at an intense speed and an oblique angle suffers tremendous stress (amsmeteors.com). A meteor made of iron (91% iron, 8.5% Nickel and 0.6 Cobalt) can hold its shape easier than one created by stone (36% Oxygen, 26% Iron, 18%Silicon, 14%Magnesium, 1.5% Aluminum, 1.4 Nickel and 1.3% Calcium). Iron would eventually crumble due to the atmosphere becoming less dense five to seven miles above the ground. .
             Trails of dust from comets burn off when they travel closer to the sun leaving debris and eventually spreading out in the solar orbit (Arizona's Meteorite Crater pg. 5). Smaller pieces of comets burn up in the atmosphere while the earth travels around the sun and passes through debris fields and creates a meteor. Meteors can also come from comet debris causing intense meteor showers. These particles travel in a parallel path as the same time as velocity and to an observer from below, it will seem as though they are all coming from a single point in the sky.


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