Meteorites
What are Meteorites?
It was until 1803 that the scientific community accepted
that meteorites did, indeed, fall from space. Over 95 per cent of all the
meteorites recovered are stone meteorites. Meteorites are divided into
three types with names that describe the mix of elements found within each
specimen. Stony meteorites look heating as the meteorite passes through
the Earth's atmosphere. Iron meteorites are part stone,part iron.
Meteorites are also called 'shooting stars. They are small
bits of dust and rocks from outer space that enter the Earth's atmosphere
at high speed from time to time, mostly burn up by friction before reaching
the surface. Large pieces may survive to reach the ground as meteorites.
When they do, they will have an impact on the Earth's surface creating
a crater. Others may 'bounce' off the atmosphere and disappear back into
space. These meteorites are formed by the remains of the original cloud
which formed the Solar System.
Meteor is a fiery trail left behind when a speck of rock
burns up in the air. Most nights, you should be able to see two or three
meteors evry hour. Sometimes as many as 50, which happens during a meteor
'shower'.
When meteoroids come near Earth, they are attrracted to
it by gravity and plunges into atmosphere as high as 70km a second. Friction
with air produces enough heat to set them alight. Meteoroids are not much
bigger than gains of sand, they burn up completely. A few are much bigger
and travel to the ground as meteorites. Meteoroids are dust particles that
travel along the orbital paths of comets.
Meteorites are stony and are made up mainly of rock, others
are metallic and are made up of mainly a mixture of nickel and iron.
Molten Droplets
Tektites are small, round, glassy objects that are usually
the size of marbles. They are most often found on the Earth in great numbers,
all together. When a blazing meteorite hits a sandstone region, the heat
temporarily melts some of the metals in the Earth's soil. These molten
droplets harden to form tektites.
What are Asteroids?
Asteroids are small rocky bodies that never came together
in the early days of the Solar System to form planets. They now lie between
orbits of Mars and Jupiter called the Asteroid belt.
Click the button below to view
the Rotating Asteroid
Vesta
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