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METEOR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere
Synonyms:
meteor; meteoroid
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("meteor" is a kind of...):
estraterrestrial body; extraterrestrial object (a natural object existing outside the earth and outside the earth's atmosphere)
Domain category:
astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "meteor"):
meteorite (stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface)
meteor swarm (a group of meteoroids with similar paths)
Derivation:
meteoric (pertaining to or consisting of meteors or meteoroids)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode
Synonyms:
meteor; shooting star
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Hypernyms ("meteor" is a kind of...):
light; visible light; visible radiation ((physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "meteor"):
bolide; fireball (an especially luminous meteor (sometimes exploding))
Holonyms ("meteor" is a part of...):
meteor shower; meteor stream (a transient shower of meteors when a meteor swarm enters the earth's atmosphere)
Context examples:
The second reason I am so excited about this eclipse is that Uranus, the planet of sudden, unanticipated events, will be incredibly friendly and supportive, so news will likely come as a complete surprise, coming to you like a blazing meteor from space.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Typical rates are about 80 meteors per hour - last year, 2016, the rate was 150-200 meteors per hour.
(Perseid Meteor Shower Provides Opening Act for Solar Eclipse, VOA News)
The remote-sensing Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph observed intense ultraviolet emission from magnesium and iron ions high in the atmosphere in the aftermath of the meteor shower.
(Mars Spacecraft Reveal Comet Flyby Effects on Martian Atmosphere, NASA)
These regions near the poles have been studied by NASA's Phoenix lander, which scraped up ice, and MRO, which has taken many images from space of meteor impacts that have excavated this ice.
(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)
The Perseid meteor shower peaks every year about this time as the Earth passes debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet, but this year the annual shower will come about a week before a total solar eclipse.
(Perseid Meteor Shower Provides Opening Act for Solar Eclipse, VOA News)
Dust from the comet impacted Mars and was vaporized high in the atmosphere, producing what was likely an impressive meteor shower.
(Mars Spacecraft Reveal Comet Flyby Effects on Martian Atmosphere, NASA)
The actual meteors are usually no bigger than a grain of sand, but when they hit the Earth’s atmosphere traveling at speeds upwards of 60 kilometers per second, they burn up in a mesmerizing color show of white, orange and green hues.
(Perseid Meteor Shower Provides Opening Act for Solar Eclipse, VOA News)
In these observations, scientists were able to make a direct connection from the input of debris from a specific meteor shower to the formation of this kind of transient layer in response; that is a first on any planet, including Earth.
(Mars Spacecraft Reveal Comet Flyby Effects on Martian Atmosphere, NASA)
