Meteors, also Called Shooting Stars

Surrounding our solar system is a belt of objects orbiting the sun.  The belt is called the Kuiper Belt.  Occasionally, these objects interact with each other, and some of them come in closer to the sun on long elliptical orbits.  Many times comets visit the inner part of the solar system on a regular basis once they come in  regular, repeated visits are common.

Comets are made of ice and solid material.  When a comet gets close enough to the sun some of the material vaporizes into a temporary atmosphere of the comet.  The solar wind, which is composed of photons and charged particles from the sun, push this material into the tail we are familiar with seeing.  The particles in the comet’s tail also orbit the sun, and when the Earth passes through an old comet tail we have a meteor shower. 

The Ort Cloud is a cloud of material that surrounds the solar system at an even greater distance, but the particles in this cloud, and some are rather large, can be dislodged and also travel into the inner solar system.  These are not arranged in a belt, and can come in from any direction.

Between Mars and Jupiter there is a belt of rocky objects called the Asteroid Belt.  These also can interact with each other, either by gravity or collision, and come close to the Earth.  These can also enter the Earth’s atmosphere, and become a meteor.

Meteorites can be rocky or metallic.  Sometimes they stand out, such as those at Antarctica where a rock on top of the ice is easily determined to have come from outer space.  Other times they leave other evidence.  Impactite  is fused rock, which shows evidence of having been melted and cooled into a glassy rock form.  Tektite is also evidence of a meteor impact.  Some people think tektite is the meteorite itself, but a more plausible explanation is the teardrop shapes of tektite were caused by melted material being thrown up after a collision.  Normal colors of tektite are black and green.

Large craters can also show evidence of a meteor impact.  The meteor literally pushes the ground out into one or more rings, and streams of material often leave lines of material emanating outward from the point of impact.  This is the kind of evidence a large impacting object might cause.  Of course the meteor can literally explode above the ground, and also excavate a crater.  Later erosion can reduce the evidence of an impact, but large objects leave evidence for very long periods.

Meteorites move at high speeds, and that means they have a lot of kinetic energy.  When they encounter the atmosphere, friction slows them, but the conservation of energy causes them to heat up due to a loss of kinetic energy.  Impact with the ground means all of the remaining kinetic energy must be converted to heat and light, since the meteor loses all of its kinetic energy as it comes to a stop.

Finding a meteorite is possible with a metal detector, but only metallic meteorites will be found using this technique.  However, it is worth the effort since meteorites can bring in a nice price if they are large enough.  In some cases a meteor will explode leaving a whore area rich in meteorites.

Meteors move so fast that there is no time to aim a telescope.  You can try setting your telescope up and aiming in the direction of a meteor shower, which is usually known, and viewing the sky, then hope.  I recommend a telescope capable of a wide view to enhance your chances, but do not think you are going to focus your eyes on the meteor and see its structure.  These objects move fast.

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