Talking about popular science in three minutes Meteors are beautiful landscapes shining in the night sky, which bring us infinite reverie and beautiful feelings. So, how are meteors formed?Meteors are small objects that burn in the Earth's atmosphere, usually made up of meteorites or comet fragments.
When meteorites or comet fragments enter space near the Earth, they begin to be subjected to the gravitational pull of the Earth. Due to their high speed of movement and friction with the atmosphere, when entering the atmosphere, meteors are subjected to the squeezing of the air and the heat of friction, causing their surfaces to be heated and burned.
When a meteor enters the atmosphere, it collides with the molecules of the atmosphere due to its high-speed motion. In this process, the meteor rubs violently against the molecules of the atmosphere, and the heat generated by the friction causes the surface temperature of the meteor to rise dramatically, even reaching thousands of degrees Celsius. In such a high temperature, the surface of the meteor begins to evaporate and burn, producing a bright glow.
Due to the high-speed movement and burning process, the meteors that people see are usually a bright light like a flame called"Meteorite meteors"。
They burn at such high rates in the atmosphere that we can only see a bright light streaked across the night sky. This light tends to have bright colors such as blue, green, red, etc., depending on the composition of the meteor.
When the speed of the meteor is reduced to a low enough degree, or when the meteor fragments burn out, the meteor disappears into the night sky. Sometimes, some of the larger meteorites or comet fragments do not completely burn up on their way into the atmosphere, and they may fall to Earth, form craters, or land on the ground in certain phenomena known as meteorite showers.
In summary, three conditions are required for the formation of meteors: celestial material near the Earth, the gravitational pull of the Earth, and friction and combustion processes in the atmosphere. The appearance of meteors not only gives us a beautiful view of the night sky, but also gives us a deeper understanding of the mysteries of the universe. Let's keep our curiosity and awe of meteors and continue to explore the wonders of the starry sky.