What term describes the visible streak of light caused by a meteoroid entering the atmosphere?
Answer
Meteor
The distinction between the object and the visible phenomenon is important in atmospheric entry studies. A meteoroid is defined as the actual small piece of cosmic grit traveling through space. Once this meteoroid interacts violently with Earth's atmosphere at high velocity, the resultant visible phenomenon—the glowing streak of light generated by air compression and material vaporization—is specifically termed a meteor. This phenomenon occurs miles above the Earth’s surface before the object potentially impacts the ground, at which point it would be called a meteorite.
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