METEOROIDS: VISITORS TO EARTH

Nearly everyone has seen a meteor, popularly (but inaccurately) called a

“shooting star.” This streak of light lasts from an eyeblink to a few seconds and occurs
when a small solid particle, a meteoroid, enters Earth’s atmosphere from interplanetary
space. Friction between the meteoroid and the air heats both and produces the light we
see.

Meteoroids less than about a meter in diameter generally vaporize before

reaching Earth’s surface. Some, called micro meteorites, are so tiny that their rate of
fall becomes too slow to cause them to burn up, so they drift down as space dust. After
sunset on a clear night, a half dozen or more are bright enough to be seen with the
naked eye each hour from anywhere on Earth.

Occasionally, meteor sightings increase dramatically to 60 or more per hour.

These displays, called meteor showers, result when Earth encounters a swarm of
meteoroids traveling in the same direction and at nearly the same speed as Earth.

The notable Perseid meteor shower that occurs each year around August 12 is
believed to be the remains of the Comet 1862 III, which has a period of 110 years.

Meteoroids that are the remains of comets tend to be small and only occasionally
reach the ground. The remains of meteoroids, when found on Earth, are referred to as
meteorites. The most famous is Meteor Crater in Arizona.
 Meteorites are classified by their composition:
1. Irons, mostly iron with 5-20% nickel.
2. Stony silicate minerals with inclusions of other minerals.
3. Stony-irons mixtures.

One type of meteorite, called a carbonaceous chondrite, contains simple amino

acids and other organic compounds, which are basic building blocks of life.

This discovery confirms similar findings in observational astronomy, which

indicate that numerous organic compounds exist in the frigid realm of outer space.
Radiometric dating of meteorites indicates that our solar system’s age certainly exceeds
4.5 billion years. This “old age” has been confirmed by data obtained from lunar
samples.

Meteor crater in Arizona