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meteor event comparison table
Subject occur for has start time has altitude has composition has definition produce has time of occurence shatter is a kind of produce produce light has destination has duration is an instance of
dark flight the point of intial contact with the atmosphere  phase in the flight of a meteor after the ratardation point when the meteoroid is no longer incandescenta crater  meteor event  from the point of intial contact with atmosphere until the retardation point 
fireball     a crater  meteor event    
incandescent flight the point of intial contact with the atmosphere  phase in the flight of a meteor before the ratardation point when the meteoroid is producing its own incandescent lighta crater     from the point of intial contact with atmosphere until the retardation pointmeteor event
meteorite impact     
  • crater
  • blinding white light like a nuclear detonation
  • ejecta blanket
  • tektites and impact melt glass
  • seismic disturbances like Earthquakes
 meteoroidmeteor event    
meteoroid break up     a crater  meteor event    
retardation pointmeteoroids heavier than 10 tons they impact with a significant fraction of their cosmic velocityshortly after the time of initial contact with atmosphere but before impactinversely proportional to the mass of the meteoroid the point in the flight of a meteoroid through the atmosphere where it loses its cosmic velocity and falls freely due to gravitya crater  meteor event  zero (it is a point in time) 
smoke trail   tiny roughly spherical micrometeoritescondensation of vaporized rock removed from the surface of a meteoroid by ablationa craterwhen meteoroid collides with atmosphere meteor eventvisible only at nightsurface of celestial bodyhours 

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