What does meteorite mean?

Definitions for meteorite
ˈmi ti əˌraɪtme·te·orite

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word meteorite.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. meteoritenoun

    stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface

Wiktionary

  1. meteoritenoun

    A metallic or stony object or body that is the remains of a meteor

Wikipedia

  1. Meteorite

    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 atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star; astronomers call the brightest examples "bolides". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater.Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transit the atmosphere and impact the Earth are called meteorite falls. All others are known as meteorite finds. Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites that are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals; iron meteorites that are largely composed of ferronickel; 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" less than ~1 mm in diameter are classified as micrometeorites, however micrometeorites differ from meteorites in that they typically melt completely in the atmosphere and fall to Earth as quenched droplets. Extraterrestrial meteorites have been found on the Moon and on Mars.

ChatGPT

  1. meteorite

    A meteorite is a solid piece of debris that originates in outer space, such as a comet, meteoroid, or asteroid, and survives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere to reach its surface. They can range in size from tiny particles to large masses, and are often studied by scientists to gain information about the solar system and its formation.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Meteoritenoun

    a mass of stone or iron which has fallen to the earth from space; an aerolite

  2. Etymology: [Cf. F. mtorite.]

Wikidata

  1. Meteorite

    A meteorite is a meteoroid originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. A meteorite's size can range from small to extremely large. When a meteoroid enters the atmosphere, frictional, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting/falling star. The term bolide refers to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface. More generally, a meteorite on the surface of any celestial body is a natural object that has come from elsewhere in space. Meteorites have been found on the Moon and Mars. Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transited the atmosphere or impacted the Earth are called falls. All other meteorites are known as finds. As of February 2010, there are approximately 1,086 witnessed falls having specimens in the world's collections. In contrast, 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 are largely composed of metallic iron-nickel; and, stony-iron meteorites 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 2mm are classified as micrometeorites.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of meteorite in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of meteorite in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of meteorite in a Sentence

  1. Scott Sandford:

    This sort of spectral matching is a way to identify an unknown, good spectral matches suggest possible identifications, while bad matches eliminate them. Most of the spectra are dominated by minerals that are consistent with the identification of this meteorite as a carbonaceous chondrite.

  2. Philipp Heck:

    I find this extremely exciting, despite having worked on the Murchison meteorite and presolar grains for almost 20 years, I still am fascinated that we can study the history of our galaxy with a rock.

  3. Stuart Mills:

    This meteorite had an abundance of carbon in it. And as it slowly cooled down, the iron and carbon came together and formed this mineral.

  4. Philipp Heck:

    This meteorite is special because it fell onto a frozen lake and was recovered quickly. It was very pristine. We could see the minerals weren't much altered and later found that it contained a rich inventory of extraterrestrial organic compounds, these kinds of organic compounds were likely delivered to the early Earth by meteorites and might have contributed to the ingredients of life.

  5. Christopher Onken:

    I could hardly believe my eyes when I came upon a little object that appeared to be moving across images taken by SkyMapper, these last images before the asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere were SkyMapper's biggest contribution. They helped to pinpoint both the search area for the meteorite fragments on Earth and the meteor's origin in space.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for meteorite

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"meteorite." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/meteorite>.

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