Meteoroids
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The smallest units in the solar system which can be observed with the naked eye are meteoroids, and they range in size from large fragments of asteroids and comets to small micrometeoroids (Bedient www.corvis.com; NASA www.nasa.gov). Most meteoroid streams come from comets, and comets originate in interstellar space, where they are assembled in the dense molecular clouds of gas and dust between the stars (NASA www.nasa.gov). The nucleus of a comet consists of ice and dust particles. Comets were formed in the outer solar system beyond Saturn's orbit at the same time as the Earth and the solar system were formed. As comets approach the sun, the ice evaporates and the dust particles are ejected into orbit and become meteoroids. When meteoroids enter the Earth's atmosphere, they are heated by friction and are observed as a bright flash of light with a glowing tail streaking across the sky, known as a meteor (Bedient www.corvis.com). Meteors may weigh less than a gram, or more than a kilogram, and if they survive their passage through the Earth's atmosphere to impact the ground, they are known as meteorites. Most meteors burn up in the Earth's atmosphere before ever reaching the ground. Brilliant meteors are sometimes followed by trails of light, which can last for up to 30 minutes. Others explode with a loud sound resembling thunder: these are called bolides. Meteors occur in the thermosphere layer of the atmosphere (Bedient www.corvis.com). The region where the
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minutes. These long-enduring trains get their light from sodium and iron oxide atoms. Rarely, a trail will last for several minutes and will change shape as it is blown by winds in the upper atmosphere.
Figure 1. Photograph showing meteor with afterglow and wake; persistent train from a meteor (NASA www.nasa.gov).
On any given night, a few meteors an hour can be seen, the number depending on the time of night, cloud conditions, time of the year, and ambient light conditions (Bedient www.corvis.com; NASA www.nasa.gov). More sporadic meteors can be seen near dawn because of the Earth's rotation around the sun. The Earth's leading edge encounters more meteoroids than the trailing edge, so two to three times as many meteors are seen just before dawn than can be seen in the early evening. The tilt of the Earth on its axis affects the number of meteors seen at different times of the year, with two to three times as many meteors being seen in the fall as can be seen in the spring. These two factors cause the number of meteors seen over the course of a year to change by a factor of four to 9 times. In the spring, two to four sporadic meteors can be seen per hour in the evening, and between four and 8 per hour i
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Approximate Word count = 2292
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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