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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 incandescent | a 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 light | a crater | from the point of intial contact with atmosphere until the retardation point | meteor event | ||||||||
| meteorite impact | 
  | meteoroid | meteor event | ||||||||||
| meteoroid break up | a crater | meteor event | |||||||||||
| retardation point | meteoroids heavier than 10 tons they impact with a significant fraction of their cosmic velocity | shortly after the time of initial contact with atmosphere but before impact | inversely 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 gravity | a crater | meteor event | zero (it is a point in time) | ||||||
| smoke trail | tiny roughly spherical micrometeorites | condensation of vaporized rock removed from the surface of a meteoroid by ablation | a crater | when meteoroid collides with atmosphere | meteor event | visible only at night | surface of celestial body | hours | 
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