Crossword clues for micrometeorite
The Collaborative International Dictionary
micrometeorite \micrometeorite\ n. A meteorite so small that it drifts down to Earth without becoming intensely heated in the earth's atmosphere.
Wiktionary
n. an extraterrestrial particle, less than a millimeter in size, that has survived entry into the atmosphere without melting
WordNet
n. a meteorite or meteoroid so small that it drifts down to earth without becoming intensely heated in the atmosphere [syn: micrometeoroid, micrometeor]
Wikipedia
A micrometeorite is an extraterrestrial particle, ranging in size from 50 µm to 2 mm, collected on the Earth's surface. Micrometeorites are micrometeoroids which have survived entry through the Earth's atmosphere. They differ from meteorites in being smaller, more plentiful and different in composition and are a subset of cosmic dust, which also includes the smaller interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). Micrometeorites enter the Earth's atmosphere with high velocities (at least 11 km/s) and undergo heating through atmospheric friction and compression. Individual micrometeorites weigh between 10 and 10 g and collectively contribute most of the extraterrestrial material that has come to the present day Earth. Fred Lawrence Whipple first coined the term "micro-meteorite" to describe dust-sized objects that fall to the Earth. Sometimes meteoroids and micrometeoroids entering the Earth's atmosphere are visible as meteors or "shooting stars", whether or not they reach the ground and survive as meteorites and micrometorites.
Usage examples of "micrometeorite".
There is the usual gleaming white oversuit - the thermal micrometeorite garment - with the lower legs and overshoes scuffed and stained with Tycho dust.
There are craters everywhere, overlaid circles of all sizes, some barely visible in a surface gardened by billions of years of micrometeorite impact.
Bado, with relief, peels off the three layers of his pressure suit: the outer micrometeorite garment, the pressure assembly and the inner cooling garment.
Moon suit out of the car, and hauled it on: first the cooling garment, then the pressure layer, and finally the white micrometeorite protector and his blue lunar overshoes.
Made brittle by constant immersion in lethal ozone baths and high-altitude acid sleets, its fuselage and wings were riddled with pinholes from micrometeorite hits and passage through volcanic dust clouds.
Others were much older, little more than circular scars overlaid by younger basins and worn down, presumably by a billion years of micrometeorite rain.
Ashif and off into the endless night: odd small micrometeorites, crystallized carbon of some sort, very hard, very tiny, and mixed up with other meteors.
If an alien probe is there, could we spot it among the countless dots and specks that will represent stars, micrometeorites, planetoids, photographic plate flaws, and dust?
Celtic micrometeorites like Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan, who burn brightly and briefly, and very soon rejoin the cosmic dust.
Pinhole penetrations of the black object by micrometeorites should not be much of a problem, since the occulter could be designed to self-seal around small penetrations.
There is the usual gleaming white oversuit-the thermal micrometeorite garment-with the lower legs and overshoes scuffed and stained with Tycho dust.
The first time I saw a man die was when I was nine years old, when a one-in-a-million micrometeorite punched through the helmet faceplate of one of my school teachers while he was leading us on a field trip to the Apollo 17 landing site at Taurus Lithrow.
A steady drizzle of micrometeorites continued to erode the top millimeter or so of its surface, exposing fresh material to trap hydrogen and helium nuclei from the solar wind.