A meteoroid (/'mi?ti?r??d/)[1] is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.

Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids, and range in size from small
grains to 1 meter-wide objects.[2] Objects smaller than this are classified as
micrometeoroids or space dust.[2][3][4] Most are fragments from comets or
asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as
the Moon or Mars.[5][6][7]

When a meteoroid, comet, or asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere at a speed typically

in excess of 20 km/s (72,000 km/h; 45,000 mph), aerodynamic heating of that object
produces a streak of light, both from the glowing object and the trail of glowing
particles that it leaves in its wake. This phenomenon is called a meteor or
"shooting star". A series of many meteors appearing seconds or minutes apart and
appearing to originate from the same fixed point in the sky is called a meteor
shower. If that object withstands ablation from its passage through the atmosphere
as a meteor and impacts with the ground, it is then called a meteorite.

An estimated 15,000 tonnes of meteoroids, micrometeoroids and different forms of

space dust enter Earth's atmosphere each year.[8]

Contents [hide]
1 Meteoroids
1.1 Composition
1.2 In the Solar System
1.3 Collision with Earth's atmosphere
2 Meteors
2.1 History
2.2 Fireball
2.3 Effect on atmosphere
2.3.1 Colours
2.3.2 Acoustic manifestations
2.4 Meteor shower
2.5 Notable meteors
2.6 Gallery of meteors
3 Meteorites
3.1 Frequency of impacts
3.2 Impact craters
3.3 Gallery of meteorites
4 See also
4.1 Relating to meteoroids
4.2 Relating to meteors
4.3 Relating to meteorites
5 References
6 External links
Meteoroids[edit]
See also: Micrometeoroid

Meteoroid embedded in aerogel. The meteoroid is 10 m in diameter and its track is

1.5 mm long.

2008 TC3 meteorite fragments found on February 28, 2009, in the Nubian Desert,
Sudan
In 1961, the International Astronomical Union defined a meteoroid as "a solid
object moving in interplanetary space, of a size considerably smaller than an
asteroid and considerably larger than an atom".[9][10] In 1995, Beech and Steel,
writing in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, proposed a new
definition where a meteoroid would be between 100 m and 10 meters across.[11] In
2010, following the discovery of asteroids below 10 m in size, Rubin and Grossman
revised the previous definition of meteoroid to objects between 10 m and 1 m in
diameter in order to maintain the distinction.[2] According to Rubin and Grossman,
the minimum size of an asteroid is given by what can be discovered from Earth-bound
telescopes, so the distinction between meteoroid and asteroid is fuzzy. Some of the
smallest asteroids discovered (based on absolute magnitude H) are 2008 TS26 with H
= 33.2[12] and 2011 CQ1 with H = 32.1[13] both with an estimated size of 1 meter.
[14] Objects smaller than meteoroids are classified as micrometeoroids and cosmic
dust. The Minor Planet Center does not use the term "meteoroid".

Composition[edit]
Almost all meteoroids contain extraterrestrial nickel and iron. They have three
main classifications: iron, stone, and stony-iron. Some stone meteoroids contain
grain-like inclusions known as chondrules and are called chondrites. Stony
meteoroids without these features are called "achondrites", which are typically
formed from extraterrestrial igneous activity; they contain little or no
extraterrestrial iron.[15] The composition of meteoroids can be inferred as they
pass through Earth's atmosphere from their trajectories and the light spectra of
the resulting meteor. Their effects on radio signals also give information,
especially useful for daytime meteors, which are otherwise very difficult to
observe. From these trajectory measurements, meteoroids have been found to have
many different orbits, some clustering in streams (see meteor showers) often
associated with a parent comet, others apparently sporadic. Debris from meteoroid
streams may eventually be scattered into other orbits. The light spectra, combined
with trajectory and light curve measurements, have yielded various compositions and
densities, ranging from fragile snowball-like objects with density about a quarter
that of ice,[16] to nickel-iron rich dense rocks. The study of meteorites also
gives insights into the composition of non-ephemeral meteoroids.

In the Solar System[edit]