3 ms·

Could it also be composition? eg. Mainly water vs mainly rock vs rock with particular metallic impurities?

• jl6 3y ago
  Meteors are very small. The bright light comes mostly from the molecules of atmosphere in front of the meteor being compressed, heated, and ionized[0] - essentially from the friction of the high-speed meteor entering the atmosphere. I guess if the meteor was a ball of pure magnesium, it might glow brighter, but there isn't so much oxygen up at that height, so my no-calc-gut-feel estimate is that this would contribute orders of magnitude less brightness than the glowing atmospheric molecules. [0] https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-faq/#3 https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-faq/#3
• uoaei 3y ago
  To the extent it's about composition it's probably mostly about how long the meteor holds together so it can retain velocity and the surface can stay hot enough to glow. A bunch of small pieces decelerate faster than one big piece. Compositional changes would only change the color somewhat but likely not enough to be worth commenting on.