Meteors: Crash Course Astronomy #23

2015-07-02

[public] 838K views, 12.6K likes, 171 dislikes audio only

Today Phil helps keep you from ticking off an astronomer in your life by making sure you know the difference between a meteor, meteorite, and meteoroid. When the Earth plows through the stream emitted by a comet we get a meteor shower. Meteors burn up about 100 km above the Earth, but some survive to hit the ground. Most of these meteorites are rocky, some are metallic, and a few are a mix of the two. Very big meteorites can be a very big problem, but there are plans in the works to prevent us from going the way of the dinosaurs.

Check out the Crash Course Astronomy solar system poster here: http://store.dftba.com/products/crashcourse-astronomy-poster

Meteorite Links:

Aerolite Meteorites, Inc.: http://www.aerolite.org/

Big Kahuna Meteorites: http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/

Arizona Skies Meteorites: http://www.arizonaskiesmeteorites.com/

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Chapters:

Introduction: Meteors 00:00

Shooting Stars, Meteoroids, Meteors, or Meteorites? 1:15

Kinetic Energy 1:53

Compression & Ablation 2:57

Sporadic Meteors 3:45

Meteor Showers 4:23

Bolides 6:24

Classifying Meteorites 7:12

Very Big Meteorite = Very Big Problem 8:36

Review 10:20

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PHOTOS/VIDEOS

Shooting star http://dakotalapse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/IMG_5555-reboot1.jpg [credit: Randy Halverson / Dakotalapse.com]

Cosmic Fireball Falling Over ALMA http://www.eso.org/public/usa/images/potw1414a/ [credit: ESO / Christoph Malin]

Meteor light https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/704204_406950402710734_1157020008_o.jpg [credit: Randy Halverson / Dakotalapse.com]

Bolide 10/16/14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZXqmPhd8AQ [credit: reddit user -545-]

Meteor Video http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010700/a010747/10747_Swift_Asteroid_H264_Good_1280x720_29.97.mov [credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center]

Orbit Video http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004100/a004159/209PLINEAR-swingAround.slate.HD1080.mp4 [credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio]

When Gemini Sends Stars to Paranal http://twanight.org/newTWAN/photos.asp?ID=3003955 [credit: Stephane Guisard]

Perseid below space station http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1208/iss028e024847perseid.jpg [credit: NASA]

Geminids shower http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/12/15/geminids_meteor_shower_photo.html [credit: Neil Zeller]

Cygnus Reentry http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/08/18/fireball_astronauts_photograph_cygnus_resupply_ship_burning_up.html [credit: ESA/NASA]

Stony meteorite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AllendeMeteorite.jpg [credit: Wikimedia Commons, H. Raab]

Iron meteorite http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nickel-iron_meteorite_fragment,_5.5_billion_years_old,_found_near_Flagstaff_AZ_-_Franklin_Institute_-_DSC06707.JPG [credit: Wikimedia Commons, Daderot]

Stony iron meteorite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallasite#/media/File:Bernham_meteorite_sept_2010.JPG [credit: Wikimedia Commons, Supportstorm]

Chondrites http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allende_meteorite,_carbonaceous_chondrite_(14787764392).jpg [credit: Wikimedia Commons, James St. John]

Pallasite https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/14608975850/ [credit: James St. John]

Aftermath of Chelyabinsk Meteor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9KwK0izt5c [credit: NASA]

Near-Earth asteroid 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmPsQdEHyPU [credit: Gianluca Masi, permission granted by author]

Dinosaur drawing courtesy of Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1535