A bolide (/ˈboʊlaɪd/; Italian via Latin from the Greek βολίς bolís, 'missile'[2][3]) is an extremely bright meteor, especially one that explodes in the atmosphere. In astronomy, it refers to a fireball about as bright as the full moon, and it is generally considered a synonym for a fireball. In geology, a bolide is a very large impactor.
One definition describes a bolide as a fireball reaching an apparent magnitude of −14 or brighter — more than twice as bright as the full moon.[4] Another definition describes a bolide as any generic large crater-forming impacting body whose composition (for example, whether it is a rocky or metallic asteroid, or an icy comet) is unknown.[5]
A superbolide is a bolide that reaches an apparent magnitude of −17 or brighter,[4][6] which is roughly 100 times brighter than the full moon. Recent examples of superbolides include the Sutter's Mill meteorite in California and the Chelyabinsk meteor in Russia.
Astronomy
See also: Meteoroid § Fireball
Animation of a bolide's atmospheric entry and air-burst
The IAU has no official definition of "bolide", and generally considers the term synonymous with fireball, a brighter-than-usual meteor; however, the term generally applies to fireballs reaching an apparent magnitude −14 or brighter.[4] Astronomers tend to use bolide to identify an exceptionally bright fireball, particularly one that explodes (sometimes called a detonating fireball).[7] It may also be used to mean a fireball that is audible.
Superbolide
See also: List of meteor air bursts
Selected superbolide air-bursts events:
Tunguska event (Russia, 1908)
2009 Sulawesi superbolide (Indonesia, 2009)
Chelyabinsk meteor (Russia, 2013)
Geology
Geologists use the term bolide in a somewhat different context than astronomers do. In geology, it indicates a very large impactor. For example, the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center of the USGS uses bolide for any large crater-forming impacting body whose origin and composition is unknown, as, for example, whether it was a stony or metallic asteroid, or a less dense, icy comet made of volatiles, such as water, ammonia and methane.[5]
Gallery
File:Взрыв метеорита над Челябинском 15 02 2013 avi-iCawTYPtehk.ogvPlay media
Footage of a superbolide exploding over Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia in 2013.
A bolide from the Geminids meteor shower (SAO RAS, vmag −3) in December 2010.
Tunguska event of 1908 (imaged by a Soviet expedition in 1927).
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bolide.
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 § Impacts
Earth-grazing fireball
Meteor procession
Tollmann's hypothetical bolide
Impact_event#Airbursts
References
"We are not Alone: Government Sensors Shed New Light on Asteroid Hazards". Universe Today. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
"Definition of BOLIDE". merriam-webster.com.
"bolide". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
Belton, MJS (2004). Mitigation of hazardous comets and asteroids. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521827647.:156
"Introduction: What is a Bolide?". Woodshole.er.usgs.gov. 1 April 1998. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
Adushkin, Vitaly; Ivan Nemchinov (2008). Catastrophic events caused by cosmic objects. Springer. ISBN 978-1402064524.:133
"bolide". Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
External links
Look up bolide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
historic record of bolides that have been witnessed entering the Earth’s atmosphere around the world from 861 through 2012 (B612 Foundation)
Bolide Events 1988–2017 neo.jpl.nasa.gov
vte
Modern impact events
On Earth
Pre-2000
1490 Ch'ing-yang 1783 Great Meteor 1860 Great Meteor 1908 Tunguska 1913 Great Meteor Procession 1930 Curuçá River 1938 Chicora meteor 1947 Sikhote-Alin meteor 1969 Murchison meteor 1972 Great Daylight Fireball 1990 Earth-grazing meteoroid
Post-2000
2002 Eastern Mediterranean event 2002 Vitim event 2007 Carancas impact event 2008 TC3 impact 2008 Buzzard Coulee meteor 2009 Sulawesi superbolide 2012 Sutter's Mill meteor 2012 UK meteoroid 2012 Novato meteor 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor
Chelyabinsk meteorite 2013 Braunschweig meteor 2014 AA impact 2014 Ontario fireball 2015 Kerala meteoroid 2015 Thailand bolide WT1190F impact 2017 China bolide 2018 LA impact 2018 Kamchatka meteor 2019 MO impact 2020 Syracuse meteor
On Jupiter
1994 Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 2009 Jupiter impact 2010 Jupiter impact
Lists
Asteroid close approaches to Earth Comets Bolides
Meteor air bursts Meteorite falls Minor planets
crossing Earth's orbit
See also
Asteroid impact prediction Asteroid impact avoidance Bolide Earth-grazing fireball Meteor procession Meteor shower Meteorite Meteoroid Near-Earth object Potentially hazardous object
vte
Planetary defense
Main topics
Asteroid Bolide Earth-grazing fireball Impact event
List of meteor air bursts Meteor procession Meteor shower Meteorite Meteoroid Near-Earth object Potentially hazardous object
Defense
Asteroid impact avoidance
Asteroid laser ablation Gravity tractor Ion-beam shepherd Asteroid close approaches Earth-crossing minor planets Damage scales
Palermo scale Torino scale
Space probes
Dawn Deep Impact AIDA
Hera DART Halley Armada Hayabusa Hayabusa2
MASCOT NEAR Shoemaker NEA Scout New Horizons OSIRIS-REx PROCYON Rosetta
Philae Stardust
NEO tracking
ATLAS Catalina Sky Survey LINEAR LONEOS NEAT NEODyS NEOSM NEOSSat OGS Telescope Orbit@home Pan-STARRS SCAP Sentinel Space Telescope Sentry Spacewatch WISE
Organizations
B612 Foundation Japan Spaceguard Association Meteoritical Society NEOShield Spaceguard The Spaceguard Foundation Space Situational Awareness Programme Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Potential threats
1950 DA 1994 WR12 101955 Bennu 2002 MN (410777) 2009 FD 2010 RF12 99942 Apophis
Film and
television
The End of the World (1916) When Worlds Collide (1951) Gorath (1962) The Green Slime (1968) "The Paradise Syndrome" (1968) A Fire in the Sky (1978) Meteor (1979) "NOVA: Doomsday Asteroid" (1995) "The Magic School Bus: Out of This World" (1995) Asteroid (1997) Deep Impact (1998) Armageddon (1998) Judgment Day (1999) Post Impact (2004) Deadly Skies (2006) Super Comet: After the Impact (2007) "Danny Phantom in Phantom Planet" (2007) Impact (2009) "NOVA: Last Extinction" (2009) Meteor Storm (2010) "Horizon: Asteroids–The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (2010) Melancholia (2011) "NOVA: Meteor Strike" (2013) "NOVA: Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday?" (2013) Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
vte
Meteorites and meteoritics
Meteorite...
Glossary Fall
bolide impactite statistics strewn field Find
hunting Largest Micrometeorite Notable Parent body
Classification
By type, class,
clan, group
and grouplet
Chondrite
Carbonaceous
CB CH CI CK CM CO CR CV C ungrouped Enstatite
EH EL Kakangari Ordinary
H L LL Rumuruti
Achondrite
Primitive
Acapulcoite Brachinite IAB IIICD Lodranite Ureilite Winonaite
Asteroidal
Angrite Aubrite HED
Diogenite Eucrite Howardite
Lunar
Impact breccia Mare basalts List
Martian
Balsaltic Breccia
NWA 7034 Chassignites Kaidun Nakhlites Orthopyroxenite
ALH84001 Shergottites Martian meteorites list Meteorites on Mars list
Iron
IC IIAB IIC IID IIE IIG IIIAB IIIE IIIF IVA IVB
Stony-iron
Mesosiderite Pallasite
Main group Eagle Station Pyroxene
Structural
Ataxite Hexahedrite Octahedrite
Obsolete terms
Amphoterite Nonmagmatic meteorite
Mineralogy
and petrology
Characteristics
shock TKW weathering Grains
chondrule presolar Minerals
Ca–Al-rich inclusion extraterrestrial materials meteoric iron Patterns
Neumann lines Widmanstätten CI1 fossils
Lists
Meteorites by
find location name type Awards Journals Organizations
See also: Asteroid Atmospheric entry Comet Impact event Meteor
shower Meteoroid Near-Earth object
Hellenica World - Scientific Library
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
