Meteor Facts for Kids

meteors falling to Earth

A meteor is what you see when a space rock falls to Earth. It is often known as a shooting star or falling star and can be a bright light in the night sky, though most are faint. A few survive long enough to hit the ground. That is called a meteorite, and a large one sometimes leaves a hole in the ground called a crater.

A rock that has not yet hit the atmosphere is called a "meteoroid". Meteoroids may range in size from large pieces of rock to tiny dust particles floating in space that did not form planets. When the meteoroids enter Earth's atmosphere they are usually going faster than the Earth's escape velocity of 13 km/sec or Mach 40. This makes them heat up and usually break apart. When the heat makes them glow, they are known as meteors.

Meteors are distinct from comets or asteroids, but some, especially those associated with meteor showers, are dust particles that came out of comets.

There are several types of meteorites including: stony, carbonaceous chondrites, and iron-nickel. Stony meteorites are named because they are largely made up of stone-like mineral material. Carbonaceous chondrites have a high carbon content. Iron-nickel meteorites are mostly iron often with significant nickel as well.

Meteorites were many during the Late Heavy Bombardment. Nowadays they sometimes hurt people and property. The 2013 Russian meteor event did the most damage. Large meteorite strikes may have played a part in several of the mass extinctions, and so indirectly on the course of evolution. (see K/T extinction event; List of extinction events; Chicxulub crater)

Meteorite types
Related pages
Images for kids
See also

Meteorite types

Chondrites

A specimen of the NWA 869 chondrite (type L4-6), showing chondrules and metal flakes

Chondrites are stony (non-metallic) meteorites that are as old as the Solar System: 4.55 billion years. They sometimes contain amino acids and other organic molecules.

They have not been modified due to melting or other disturbances. They are formed when various types of dust and small grains that were present in the early solar system accreted to form primitive asteroids. They are the most common type of meteorite that falls to Earth: they are about 85 or 86 per cent of all meteorites.

Their study gives clues about the origin and age of the Solar System, the synthesis of organic compounds, the origin of life or the presence of water on Earth. Chondrites can be differentiated from iron meteorites by their low iron and nickel content.

Murnpeowie meteorite, an iron meteorite

Achondrites

About 8 percent of meteorites show signs of melting and recrystallizing. They look rather like basalt or granite.

Iron meteorites

A slice of the Esquel meteorite showing the mixture of meteoric iron and silicates that is typical of stony-iron siderolites

Iron meteorites are meteorites made of an iron–nickel alloy. They are about 6 percent of all meteorites. This comes from the inner cores of early small proto-planets. The iron found in iron meteorites was one of the earliest sources of usable iron, before humans invented smelting. That signalled the beginning of the iron age. Iron meteorites are easily found, because native iron is rare.

Siderolites

Siderolites are stony-iron meteorites that have almost equal parts of iron and silicates. They are quite rare: only about 1 percent of all meteorites are siderolites.

The Solar System

Sun • Heliosphere	Planets ☾ = moon(s) ∅ = rings		Mercury	Venus	Earth ☾	Mars ☾

			Jupiter ☾ ∅	Saturn ☾ ∅	Uranus ☾ ∅	Neptune ☾ ∅

	Dwarf planets		Ceres	Pluto ☾	Haumea ☾	Makemake

			Eris ☾

	Small Solar System bodies	Asteroids (minor planets)	Groups and families: Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Asteroid belt Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Neptune Trojans · Asteroid moons · Meteoroids · Pallas · Juno · Vesta · Hygiea · Interamnia · Europa
		Asteroids (minor planets)	See also the list of asteroids.

		Trans- Neptunians	Kuiper belt – Plutinos: Orcus · Ixion – Cubewanos: Varuna · Quaoar · Huya
		Trans- Neptunians	Scattered disc: Sedna

		Comets	Periodic comets and non-periodic comets Damocloids · Oort cloud
See also the list of solar system objects

Images for kids

A meteoroid shown entering the atmosphere, becoming visible as a meteor and hitting the Earth's surface as a meteorite.
Meteor seen from the site of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)
A meteoroid of the Perseids with a size of about ten millimetres entering the earth's atmosphere in real time. The meteorid is at the bright head of the trail, and the ionisation of the mesosphere is still visible in the tail.
A meteor of the Leonid meteor shower; the photograph shows the meteor, afterglow, and wake as distinct components
Multiple meteors photographed over an extended exposure time during a meteor shower
Meteoroid embedded in aerogel; the meteoroid is 10 µm in diameter and its track is 1.5 mm long
Orionid meteor
Sporadic bolide over the desert of Central Australia and a Lyrid (top edge)
Meteor (center) seen from the International Space Station
Possible meteor (center) photographed from Mars, March 7, 2004, by MER Spirit
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 colliding with Jupiter: The sequence shows fragment W turning into a fireball on the planet's dark side
Two tektites, molten terrestrial ejecta from a meteorite impact
A partial slice of the Esquel pallasite
Willamette Meteorite, from Oregon, USA
Meteorite, which fell in Wisconsin in 1868
Marília Meteorite, a chondrite H4, which fell in Marília, Brazil (1971)
Children posing behind the Tucson Meteorite at the Arizona Museum of Natural History
Meteorite with brecciation and carbon inclusions from Tindouf, Algeria

Meteor facts for kids

Contents