Why is a meteor glowing?
If you have ever watched the stars in the sky in the evening, you have certainly come across many falling stars. These brief phenomena of light are meteors that emit light when they enter the earth's atmosphere. There is an interesting principle behind this.
What distinguishes the meteor from a meteorite
In order to understand the lighting process of a meteor, it is useful to know how a meteor and a meteorite differ. Both terms describe celestial bodies that move in space. Every now and then it happens that they invade the earth's atmosphere. A meteor is a body that burned up before it hit the earth. There is nothing left of him if he theoretically reached Earth. A meteorite refers to the remains of such a meteor that remain after the lighting process. These land on the surface of the earth. A meteorite can only be left if the meteor is of a larger nature.
This is how the lighting process works
- Due to the ionization of the air, a cushion of air plasma is created in front of the meteor. The meteor pushes this partly in front of it and is carried away on both sides. During the flight towards the earth, the cushion is constantly renewed.
- The plasma changes several times during the process. That depends mainly on the density of the atmosphere. The denser this becomes, the denser the plasma that the meteor pushes in front of it.
- The closer the meteor gets to the earth's atmosphere, the denser it becomes. This also increases the density of the plasma. It can even reach a higher density than the meteor itself.
- During this time, enormous forces act on the meteor and the material is removed step by step. The material of the meteor becomes less, but the energy remains the same. The more material is removed, the more excess energy becomes.
- After the destructive phase of the flight towards Earth is over, kinetic energy has built up on the meteor. This is broken down as the ions and the freely moving electrons find each other again. During this recombination, the remaining plasma emits light. This process lasts as long as there are still freely moving electrons. The light that is created during the breakdown can be perceived by humans with the naked eye from the earth.
- If the meteor is big enough, it can happen that a little bit remains of it. This penetrates the earth's atmosphere, lands on the earth's surface and is known as a meteorite. There are many groups that deal with the systematic search for meteorites. They can be found in a wide variety of places and can hardly be distinguished from ordinary stones for laypeople. In the case of small meteors, on the other hand, there are no residues left, as the body burns up completely.
Dan Brown is a very famous one through books like "The Da Vinci Code" and "Illuminati" ...
The phenomenon that you know by the term "shooting star" has little to do with stars. It is merely a matter of celestial bodies, which are much surplus when they approach the earth energy have to dismantle. This energy is dissipated by the lighting process. Shooting stars have something magical about them and cause astonishment.
