Description These three terms refer to the different stages in which a piece of debris travels through space and lands on Earth. First of all, when it is in space away from the Earth, it is referred to as a Meteroid. When it enters the atmosphere, it becomes a Meteor which normally burns up. If however the debris lands on earth, it is referred to as a Meteorite. Earth is bombarded by Meteors everyday, fortunately they are so small that they burn up and we don't get to know about the incident. A lot of people have heard of this phenomena thanks to the Hollywood blockbusters Meteor (1979), Deep Impact and Armageddon ( Both 1998 ). In those films, the scientists know whats going to happen so they can prevent it. In reality, there are so many meteoroids up there and so small a number of people looking that its going to take a lot of luck to find the doomsday object. It is said a meteor collision with the upper atmosphere that caused the American President to be woken up. In 1908 a meteorite exploded over Tunguska, Siberia, Russia destroying a large area of land. Death was minimal because it was a relatively low inhabitented part of the world. Another meteorite crashed into a village in Canada at about the beginning or before the 20th Century which did cause death. The aftermath of a meteor crash on New York would be incalculable. The likelihood of a meteor smash on a heavily populated is tiny, these area cover a fraction of the earth surface so the possibility of it hitting a densely populated area is small. The worlds land mass takes up only a third so it is more likely it would hit into the water but they you would have to worry about a tidalwave. It should be remembered a meteorite is blamed for the death of the dinosaurs which people believe will happen again. All it takes is for a meteor that is 3 miles wide ( roughly the size of Canvey Island ) to crash into the earth to cause all or the majority of life to disappear. Every year the earth are hit by meteor showers as it orbits the sun, Most if not all meteor showers are associated with a comet and when they approach the sun then the shower can be spectacular. Below is a table detailing a small number of meteor showers that we encounter every year.
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