Crossword clues for meteorite
meteorite
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Meteorite \Me"te*or*ite\, n. [Cf. F. m['e]t['e]orite.] (Min.) A mass of stone or iron which has fallen to the earth from space; an a["e]rolite. Note: Meteorites usually show a pitted surface with a fused crust, caused by the heat developed in their rapid passage through the earth's atmosphere. A meteorite may consist:
Of metallic iron, alloyed with a small percentage of nickel (meteoric iron, holosiderite). When etched this usually exhibits peculiar crystalline figures, called Widmanst["a]tten figures.
Of a cellular mass of iron with imbedded silicates (mesosiderite or siderolite).
Of a stony mass of silicates with little iron (meteoric stone, sporadosiderite).
Of a mass without iron (asiderite).
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"rock that falls to earth, after streaking across the sky as a meteor," 1818, from meteor + -ite.
Wiktionary
n. A metallic or stony object or body that is the remains of a meteor
WordNet
n. stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface
Wikipedia
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and impact with the Earth's surface. When the object enters the atmosphere, various factors like friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate that energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting/falling star; astronomers call the brightest examples " bolides." Meteorites that survive atmospheric entry and impact vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create a crater.
Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transit the atmosphere or impact the Earth are called meteorite falls. All others are known as meteorite finds. , there were approximately 1,140 witnessed falls that have specimens in the world's collections. The first confirmed fall for 2016 is the Osceola meteorite which fell on January 24, 2016 in Florida, USA. There are more than 38,660 well-documented meteorite finds.
Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals; iron meteorites that are largely composed of metallic iron-nickel; and, stony-iron meteorites that contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material. Modern classification schemes divide meteorites into groups according to their structure, chemical and isotopic composition and mineralogy. Meteorites smaller than 2 mm are classified as micrometeorites. Extraterrestrial meteorites are such objects that have impacted other celestial bodies, whether or not they have passed through an atmosphere. They have been found on the moon and Mars.
Meteorite is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe who first appeared in the comic series, the Thunderbolts.
"Meteorite" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her fourteenth studio album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014). It was composed by Carey and Q-Tip. A disco track, it contains a sample of the recording " Goin' Up in Smoke" written by Allan Felder, Norman Harris, and Ron Tyson, all of whom received songwriting credits for "Meteorite" as a result. It also quotes an observation by Andy Warhol that everyone will achieve fame for 15 minutes. "Meteorite" garnered mostly positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised the disco influence and highlighted it as one of the album's best tracks. The song peaked at number 70 on the international download chart in South Korea. Carey performed "Meteorite" at the 2014 World Music Awards, for which she was criticized for arriving over an hour late, and included it on the set list of her 2014 tour, The Elusive Chanteuse Show.
Usage examples of "meteorite".
Of particular interest are the breccias, which are broken fragments of meteorites that smashed into the Moon and broke up only to be compressed and cemented together with pre-existing Moon material, forming new rocks, the breccias, millions of years later.
Buckminster-fullerenes, more commonly called buckyballs, on meteorites.
Naturally occurring buckyballs had been found in the location of meteorite craters.
The Exploratorium has only a small piece because Martian meteorites are among the rarest rocks on Earth.
I discovered that the exoskeleton was an organic-inorganic matrix composed of carbon compounds and silicate minerals, primarily olivine, pyroxene, and magnetite, substances commonly found in meteorites.
Look at how swiftly this area was reinhabited after the meteorite had killed everybody in it.
It seemed to him that the object was falling too slowly to be a meteorite, but what did he know about representative intraatmospheric velocities of terminal substellar objects?
That freak meteorite need not lie there unsmelted for another seventy years.
There were still some meteorites coming in, making bright little winks of fire where they bit into the plain.
This indicates that the Terran archaea may have arrived on Earth in the SNC meteorites.
Nora saw an astonishing range of objects: mounted skeletons, fossils, glass-fronted cabinets full of wondrous and terrible artifacts, gems, skulls, meteorites, iridescent beetles.
Like tin, iron differs from copper and gold in never being found free in nature, except as the very rare meteorites that fall to earth.
Earth continued to be pelted relentlessly by comets, meteorites, and other galactic debris, which brought water to fill the oceans and the components necessary for the successful formation of life.
Yet both of them were speaking learnedly of meteors, prissily drawing the distinction between meteor and meteorite, smothering any anxiety in a torrent of comforting verbiage.
The dilemma appeared minor when compared to the overall scope of the meteorite, and yet, as an intel analyst, Rachel had witnessed the collapse of entire theories based on smaller snags than this.