METEOROID
Meteoroid – is a small rocky or metallic object
traveling through space, smaller than an asteroid
but larger than a dust grain. When meteoroid
enters Earth’s atmosphere, it heats up and creates
a streak of light called a meteor ( or shooting star
). If any part of it survives the atmospheric
passage and hits the ground, it is then called a
meteorite.
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
1. Size and origin : Meteoroids are much smaller
than asteroids ranging from the size of a grain of
sand to about 1 meter across. They are often
fragments of comets or asteroids.
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
2. Meteors vs Meteoroids : Meteoroid is the rock
in space; meteors is the streak of light it creates
when it burns up in the atmosphere.
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
3. Meteorites : Meteorite is the part of a meteoroid
that survives its journey through the atmosphere
and lands on the ground.
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
4. Cause of Meteors : When a meteoroid enters the
atmosphere at high speed, friction with air
particles causes it to heat up and glow brightly
creatin the visible streak of a meteor.
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
5. Colors : The color of a meteor can be
influenced by its composition and speed appearing
in shades of oranges, yellow, blue, green or violet
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
6. Meteor showers : These occur when Earth
passes through the debris trail left by a comet or
asteroid.
7. Naming : Meteors showers are named after the
constellation from which they appear to radiate
such as Perseids ( Perseus )
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
8. Frequency : Millions of meteroids enter Earth’s
atmosphere every day, but most are small and
burn up completely, so they never reach the
ground.
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
9. Crater formation : Larger meteoroids that make
it to ground can create impact craters. The Moon
has many visible craters because it lacks an
atmosphere to burn them up and has less
geological activity than Earth.
FACTS ABOUT METEOROIDS
10. “Grazing fireballs” : Some meteoroids are
large enough to enter the atmosphere and then
exit back into space, without burning completely
these are called “grazing fireballs”.
When a meteoroids enters Earth’s atmosphere,
the air in front of the meteoroid heats up causing
materials to burn up.
Meteoroids are composed of rock and metal
typically a combination of silicates (like silicon
and oxygen) and heavier metals such as nickel and
iron.
Effects of Smaller Meteoroids
• Localized impacts : Small meteoroids that
reach the ground can cause localized impacts
• Airburst : a meteoroids that is a few meters in
size can explode in the atmosphere, a
phenomenon called an airburst. This can create
a shockwave that cause damage to buildings
and crops on the ground.
Effects of Smaller Meteoroids
• Damage to infrastructure : Meteoroids can
damage satellites and other spacecrafts in orbit
by creating craters degrading surfaces, or
causing larger malfunctions.
Effects of Larger Meteoroids
• Craters : Impacting objects larger than about 50
meters in diameter can create large craters,
destroying the area they hit and causing
damage to surrounding areas.
Effects of Larger Meteoroids
• Seismic and air blast waves : Large impact can
generate powerful seismic shocks and air
blasts, which can cause damage to buildings
and infrastructure over a large distance.
Effects of Larger Meteoroids
• Wildfire : the thermal radiation from a large
impact can ignite fires over a wide area.
• Tsunamis : an impact on an ocean or large
body of water can cause massive tsunamis.
Effects of Very Large Meteoroids
• Mass extinctions : very large impacts such as
the one that formed the Chixulub crater, can
have devastating global effects including mass
extinctions.
Effects of Very Large Meteoroids
• Atmospheric changes : the impact can inject
massive amounts of dust, soot, and gases into
atmosphere, leading to long-term climate
change such as global cooling or warming and
acid rain.
Effects of Very Large Meteoroids
• Geological changes : large impact can alter the
Earth’s crust and contribute to volcanic
activity.
Effects on Origin of life
• Formation of Organic molecules : it is
hypothesized that meteorite impacts played a
role in the origin of life on Earth by delivering
the necessary organic molecules and creating
conditions that fostered their formation.
Effects on Origin of life
• Catalytic reactions : Clays formed from the
hydrothermal activity following impact events
may have served as templates for the formation
of self-replicating molecules.
Assignment : Write or printed in A4 bond paper
5 Examples of
Celestial Beliefs