Thursday, March 31, 2011

Meteor Shower

A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, so almost all of them disintegrate and never hit the Earth's surface. Intense or unusual meteor showers are known as meteor outbursts and meteor storms, which may produce greater than 1,000 meteors an hour.[

from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_shower
An impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth or another planet. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events (and exploding bolides) have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant localised consequences.[1] An impact event in an ocean or sea may create a tsunami (a giant wave), which can cause destruction both at sea and on land along the coast.

from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event

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