Shooting star (meteor, fireball) – a small body that moves in outer space. Sometimes these bodies fall to the Earth's surface, and scientists the opportunity to study their nature and properties. It is established that most meteorites are stone, but there are also meteorites exhibiting metallic properties (consisting entirely of metal) and mixed. Metallic meteors are called "iron", they are very often rich in metal content of iridium, one of the most rare chemical elements on Earth.
The origin of meteorites can be different: small asteroids, cosmic dust, fragments of comets, planets or large asteroids. And if we accept that the surface of the planet, point B, point A can serve as the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, the Kuiper Belt (beyond the orbit of Pluto) or the Oort cloud.
Passing by any large cosmic objects such as planets, meteors are captured by their gravitational fields and are attracted. When entering the atmosphere almost all of the meteorite burns up and "land" flies only its small part, which can have a mass ten times smaller than the initial. To the observer, flying the meteor looks like a bright flash in the night sky, behind which stretches a glowing trail. The impression that a tiny falling star.
Sometimes meteorites were previously a single entity, passing through the atmosphere, are broken up into fragments and fall to the Earth in the form of a meteor shower. In the fall the cars leave an imprint on the planet. These prints are called craters. Depending on the angle of the body except the crater may remain a deep and long scar-trench.
The largest crater on planet Earth – crater in Wilkes Land about 500 km in diameter. The largest found meteorite is the hoba meteorite, weighing 66 tons. And the mysterious Tunguska meteor in 1908 near the stony Tunguska river. His phenomenon lies in the fact that he exploded and left a crater. This was the beginning of a number of quite fantastic hypotheses.
The origin of meteorites can be different: small asteroids, cosmic dust, fragments of comets, planets or large asteroids. And if we accept that the surface of the planet, point B, point A can serve as the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, the Kuiper Belt (beyond the orbit of Pluto) or the Oort cloud.
Passing by any large cosmic objects such as planets, meteors are captured by their gravitational fields and are attracted. When entering the atmosphere almost all of the meteorite burns up and "land" flies only its small part, which can have a mass ten times smaller than the initial. To the observer, flying the meteor looks like a bright flash in the night sky, behind which stretches a glowing trail. The impression that a tiny falling star.
Sometimes meteorites were previously a single entity, passing through the atmosphere, are broken up into fragments and fall to the Earth in the form of a meteor shower. In the fall the cars leave an imprint on the planet. These prints are called craters. Depending on the angle of the body except the crater may remain a deep and long scar-trench.
The largest crater on planet Earth – crater in Wilkes Land about 500 km in diameter. The largest found meteorite is the hoba meteorite, weighing 66 tons. And the mysterious Tunguska meteor in 1908 near the stony Tunguska river. His phenomenon lies in the fact that he exploded and left a crater. This was the beginning of a number of quite fantastic hypotheses.