Questions tagged [meteors]
In particular, the light phenomenon which results from the entry into the Earth's atmosphere of a solid particle from space; more generally, as a noun or an adjective, any physical object or phenomenon associated with such an event.
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Are meteors heated primarily through radiation or convection (or both)?
From what I read meteors compress the air in front of them, increasing the air's temperature massively; this in turn is what heats the meteor. My question, which I can't seem to find a clear answer to ...
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What happens to the material from meteors that "burn up" in the atmosphere?
Although people speak of meteors "burning up" in the atmosphere, we know that they actually ablate. I'm not sure whether, during ablation, the material that comes off of the (heated) meteor ...
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Does every Goldilocks planet in various solar systems inevitably have massive amounts of concentrated $\rm H_2O$ meteors?
I’ve always been fascinated with the Anthropic Principle. Our universe seems to have our Chemical, biological, and physical properties/laws designed to favor the existence of life. Although the human ...
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Physical interpretation of eyewitness reports - Tunguska Event
From this site, I found some eyewitness reports about the Tunguska Event (30th June 1908). One of them goes like this:
"I was sitting on the porch of the house at the trading station, looking ...
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Can an EMP be caused by a meteor?
I am no scientist, but I'm doing some research about asteroids and their ability to cause an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) through their impact. I found these very helpful lines on this site:
What size ...
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What is the smallest plausible size for a kinetic bombardment projectile based on the pure tungsten rod concept?
Related: What would an impact from kinetic bombardment be like?
I am trying to calculate the size of the smallest possible tungsten projectile that can hit the ground without burning up in the ...
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Where would the energy go if a nuke intercepted a meteor?
I thought of this question from watching the trailer for the new movie "Greenland" with Gerard Butler. Essentially in the trailer a huge comet falls towards the earth, apocalypse, etc.
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When $A$ falls into the atmosphere at an angle $\alpha$, does the terminal velocity of $A$ return to constant?
When a small meteor $A$ falls vertically into the atmosphere, the terminal velocity is constant; when $A$ falls into the atmosphere at an angle $\alpha$, does the terminal velocity of $A$ return to ...
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Is it possible for meteors and asteriods to become natural satellites of Earth?
We know that the moon isn't falling on the earth because it's in orbit. If we make an asteriod or meteor spin is it possible for it to become a natural satellite of Earth?
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Do comets and meteors attract artificial satellites while passing by?
What will be effect on artificial satellites when comets or meteors come close or pass by?
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What is the reason for central uplift of a complex crater?
For a central uplift there must be a rebounding effect in the crater. What causes this effect? Does melting occur on crater impact?
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Energy yield of a meteor blast - how to explain the discrepancy?
The energy yield of the Chelyabinsk meteor blast is estimated to be about 500 kT TNT, or $2\cdot 10^{15}$ joules. When compared that to its estimated speed ($\sim 2\cdot 10^4$ m/s) and mass ($1.3\cdot ...
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At what impact parameter does a meteor hit the surface of a planet?
The data I have is only $v_\infty$ and $v_0$, velocity at a large distance and escape velocity respectively.
I need to find at what impact parameter a meteor strikes the surface of a planet of radius ...
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Why do meteors heat up when they fall through the atmosphere?
When an object (like a meteor) falls through the atmosphere towards the Earth, why does it start to heat up and glow? Is it because of the compressed air in front of it or because of drag? How do ...
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Why do the Perseids only happen once per year, not twice or four times?
The Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris left behind Comet Swift-Tutte. My understanding is that the meteor shower occurs once per year because that's when the Earth passes near the orbital path ...
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Why do meteors have different impact velocities? [duplicate]
What explains the difference in impact velocity of meteors if they all come from roughly the same distance from the Sun (Asteriod Belt) ? I know the velocity of the Earth itself factors in, but is ...
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If a meteor breaks apart in the atmosphere, how far apart could the impact craters be realistically?
Currently, my assumption is that the meteor only splits into two. The meteors could potentially land on anywhere on a whole half of a planet. How can I improve this mental model?
If the meteor is ...
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Why are there more meteorite falls during April?
I was reading this article about the Nov 2015 Fireball surge. One explanation was that "... gravitational forces from Jupiter causes the Taurid meteor stream to be more heavily concentrated near Earth ...
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Why is meteor speed what it appears to be?
Is the speed of a meteor through our sky because of the speed of the earth's axis rotation, or because the meteor is speeding towards us at that speed?
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Compression vs. Friction - what happens when space objects enter Earth's atmosphere?
When reading about what happens when cosmic debris enters the earth's atmosphere, some sources say friction, others say compression. For example:
On space.com it says:
Meteor showers occur when dust ...
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Temperature of a falling meteor
I am reading "What if?" article https://what-if.xkcd.com/20/ and I'm interested in it's scientific background. Mr. Munroe writes:
As it [the meteor] falls, it compresses the air in front of it. ...
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How come the Tunguska fireball reached the ground before the shockwave?
In this post on his Bad Astronomy blog, Phil Plait describes the Tunguska event as having had a fireball which was followed by a shock wave:
A chunk of rock (or possibly ice) about 30 meters across—...
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Air friction at supersonic velocities
I know that if an object moves in the air, it can experience two types of drag, laminar and turbulent. For instance, I have a meteor of ideal spherical shape falling from edge of space, say, 100 km up ...
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Calculating collapse factor in the crater equation [duplicate]
In the Crater Equation
$$
D=0.07C_f\left(\frac{g_e}{g}\right)^{1/6}\left(E \frac{\rho_a}{\rho_t}\right)^{1/3.4}
$$
where $\rho_a$ is the density of the impactor, $\rho_t$ that of the object, $g_e$ ...
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What are laws regarding falling meteorites and the angles of descent?
I would like to know if there is any math / laws of physics governing the angle that a meteor falls on our planet.
I doubt it falls towards the center of the planet, from what footage I've seen, it ...
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Did the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event cause miniature tidal waves?
This could be considered on-topic for Earth Science, but I'm putting it here because I'm interested primarily in the dynamics of the impact.
65 million years ago, a large body crashed down onto Earth,...
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How to calculate the Impact of a meteor
I am trying to add a dose of realism to a story I'm writing: imagine an invulnerable superman-like being that won't disintegrate at any point, weighing in at 349lbs, travelling at 86,000mph through ...
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Meteorite hunters Search for FIREBALLS
normally meteorite hunters search for fireballs....but they totally ignore meteor showers . why so?
as far as i can think meteors in meteor showers are usually produced by small particles so they ...
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Can an asteroid/meteroid/meteor/meteorite be stopped in its way to Earth?
I was just studying meteorology and had a doubt about the motion of meteors towards earth.
Can a meteor be stopped while it is still under under the gravitational influence of Earth? As far as I know ...
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Distribution of Kinetic energy after an Impact
How does the huge amount of kinetic energy of some fast object like a meteor or rocket etc. gets distributed into various kinds of energy like kinetic, sound, light etc after making an impact with ...
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How fast do large asteroids usually travel?
I have just watched this video made by discovery channel, and you can hear the narrator at 0:51 saying that : "even though it is moving at 720 THOUSANDS kilometers per hour..."
I stopped once I heard ...
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Why do meteors explode?
A report on the Chelyabinsk meteor event earlier this year states
Russian meteor blast injures at least 1,000 people, authorities say
My question is
Why do meteors explode?
Do all meteors ...
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What processes occur when a meteor enters the atmosphere?
What processes occur when a meteor enters earth's atmosphere and then what will be speed of meteor when it encounters air resistance?
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What information about a meteor's trajectory, size, or height can be derived from a single location?
If one sees a meteor, is there any way to get even a rough approximation of its height, entry angle, size, or other characteristic without triangulation from another position?
If it appeared as a ...
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meteor explosion, steam or shock/vibration trigger
Is the explosion of a meteor due to forces imparted to the meteor by entry into atmosphere, or is it due to heating of a meteor that contains water with conversion to steam triggering the explosion? ...
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energy of Russian meteor, does it matter whether it explodes or not?
The kinetic energy calculation for any meteor would be the traditional one half times the mass times the velocity squared. In terms of the events that occur on the ground, does it matter whether the ...
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Was the 2013 meteor over Russia stronger than an atomic bomb?
Reports of the Russian meteor event (2013) say that it released more energy than 20 atomic bombs of the size dropped on Hiroshima, Japan:
Scientists estimated the meteor unleashed a force 20 times ...
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2013 Russian meteor event, Sonic Boom or Explosion Boom?
In the lastest meteor event in Russia there was a big BOOM heard long after the meteor had passed. In this youtube video we can see at 4:30 the Meteor passing.. then hearing the BOOM at 7:00 , 150 ...
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After what speed air friction starts to heat up an object?
I understand that air friction cools off an object at low speeds. For example, if you blow on a spoon of hot soup, it cools off. Or if you swing a hot frying pan in the air, it cools off faster.
But ...
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How do the terms comet, asteroid, meteoroid, meteor and meteorite differ?
These terms are frequently used interchangeably by the uninitiated to mean approximately a “space rock”. In practical terms, how do their meanings differ?
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Are there trends in the number of meteors in a shower year on year?
Some years the Leonids are amazing, other years there are very few - are these predictable at all, following trends or at least reasonably accurate predictions?
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Are there any Earth-Meteorites on Earth?
A follow-on from this question, if meteorites can come from Mars, it seems they could have come from Earth and ended up back here (though I'm guessing that to be less likely). Do we have any evidence ...
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Are meteorites igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic rocks?
Are meteorites igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic rocks?
Or do we need a new method of rock classification for them?
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Is there any way to judge whether a bolide might produce a meteorite?
If you see a bolide, is there any way to judge whether it's worthwhile to try to find an impact? (I mean, short of a big "bang" and a debris cloud rising from the remains of your car...)
I imagine ...
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Why can't you see meteors, but you can see comets from the moon?
Why can't you see meteors from the moon and why can you see comets?
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What's the best way to watch meteor showers?
I have read somewhere that the best/easiest way to watch meteor showers is to lie on the ground or other horizontal surface with your feet oriented towards the "apparent point of origin" (what was ...
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Which is the strongest meteor shower expected in the next years in the Northern hemisphere?
Which is the strongest meteor shower expected in the next years in the Northern hemisphere?
Is it possible to give good predictions for this?
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