METEORS

What is meteor, meteoroid and meteorite ?

 Based from: http://mashable.com/2013/03/23/nasa-meteor/#du51eCXOUiqu

A meteor is the passage of a meteoroid, micrometeoroid, comet or asteroid into the Earth's atmosphere, heated from collisions with air particles in the upper atmosphere and shedding glowing material in its wake sufficiently to create a visible streak of light. Meteors typically occur in the mesosphere at altitudes from 76 to 100 km (47 to 62 mi). The root word meteor comes from the Greek meteōros, meaning "high in the air." It is also known as falling star or shooting star. It is smaller than asteroids and it emits light.  The visible light produced by a meteor may take on various hues, depending on the chemical composition of the meteoroid, and the speed of its movement through the atmosphere. As layers of the meteoroid abrade and ionize, the colour of the light emitted may change according to the layering of minerals. Colours of meteors depend on the relative influence of the metallic content of the meteoroid versus the superheated air plasma, which its passage engenders:

·         Orange-yellow (sodium)

·         Yellow (iron)

·         Blue-green (magnesium)

·         Violet (calcium)

·         Red (atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen)

Based from: "Cosmic Fireball Falling Over ALMA" by ESO/C. Malin - http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1414a/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Common

Fireball is brighter than the usual meteor but is also define by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as "a meteor brighter than any of the planets". It is called a meteor when it hits or reaches the Earth's Atmosphere. A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body travelling through space. When a meteoroid, comet or asteroid enters the 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.

FACTS ABOUT METEORS

Ø  A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid.

Ø  Meteors are bits of rocks and ice ejected from comets as they move in their orbits about the sun.

Ø  A meteor that reaches the ground it is called a meteorite.

Ø  Meteor showers get their names from the constellation in where their radiant is located. Perseids come from Perseus, hence the name Perseids.

Ø  Comets continuously eject material with each passage around the sun; this replenishes the shower meteoroids.

Ø  Approximately 30 meteor showers occur each year that are visible to observers on Earth. Some of these showers have been around longer than 100 years. For example, the Perseid meteor shower, which occurs each year in August, was first observed about 2000 years ago and recorded in the Chinese annals.

Ø  Meteors are sometimes observed with red, yellow or green trails. The colors are caused by the ionization of molecules - like oxygen which appears to be green.

Ø  A fireball is a meteor that is brighter than the planet Venus.

Ø  Radar indicates there are 12,000 meteors on a given night that are about the size of a piece of dust.

Ø  The International Space Station has shielding to protect it from meteors up to an inch wide.

SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS

Meteors is belief to be a omen like the following:

In Switzerland, a meteor was considered to possess the power of God.

Swabians believed that a shooting star presaged a year of good fortune, but if one saw three in one night, then he was doomed to die.

In Chile, one must pick up a stone when sees a meteor.

In the Philippines, one must tie a knot in a handkerchief before the light is extinguished.

Modern Hawaiian Japanese are reported to believe that if a meteor comes in your direction, you must open the collars of your kimono to admit the good luck.

In Baltic countries and central Europe, people believed that everyone had a personal star which fell upon his or her death. This led some to say such things as 'rest in peace' or 'may God guide you to a good path' upon seeing a meteor.

Pointing to a meteor or talking of a meteor was considered bad luck by some in America.

Among those who believed meteors signaled ill-omen, saying certain words could avert the bad luck--for example, 'amen,' 'God guide it,' or 'go away, go away, all by yourself.'

Perhaps the most famous omen was that divined form the Ensisheim stony meteorite which fell in Alsace (now in France) in 1492. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian assembled his council to help determine the meaning of the fall. The council determined that it as a good omen in his wars with France and the Turks. 

It is also belief that meteors is use in worship and veneration like the following:

•  The ancient Greeks held meteorites as objects of veneration. A stone held a place of honor at Apollo's temple at Delphi--one of the most important sites of Greek religion. "The myth surrounding its location at Delphi was that Saturn (Cronos)

•  A keeper of a "conical black stone" in Roman times was named Emperor in 218 AD. As Emperor Elagabalus, he insisted that the stone be an object of public worship. Perhaps it is indicative of ill omen, that he soon murdered.

•  Many other Greek and Roman temples enshrined rocks that had reportedly fallen from heaven.

•  The wall of the Ka'ba, the holiest shrine of Islam at Mecca contains a black stone that has been reported to be of meteoritic origin. The stone which measures 16 by 20 cm and is held together by a silver band. Legend has it that the angel Gabriel gave the stone to the patriarch Abraham who built it into his house. The stone passed to the prophet Mohammed who built it into the wall of the Ka'ba. The black stone is not an object of worship, but is a venerated relict. Students of the matter now believe that the black stone is not meteoric, but may be impact glass, perhaps from the meteor crater at Wabar, about 100 km from Mecca.

•  Meteorites have been found at Indian graves in the United States--including at the Hopewell Mounds--in situations suggesting that they were worshipped.

•  Many other instances of meteorite worship have been noted from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Therefore, I conclude that when you wish on a shooting star or falling star your wish doesn't come true because a meteor is just made of rocky materials. A meteor can cause a great damage in some areas or places in Earth depending on the size of the meteoroid that came from the the outer space.

Sources:

https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/741990main_ten_meteor_facts.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid

http://www.meteoritemarket.com/legend.htm