Fireball

A fireball is another term for a very bright meteorHow long Sonic booms Of the several 10s of tons of cosmic material entering Earth's atmosphere each day, only about one ton reaches the surface. An object's chance of survival depends on its initial mass, speed and angle of entry, and friability (tendency to break up). Micrometeoroids radiate heat so, generally brighter than magnitude -4, which is about the same magnitude of the planetThe term "planet" originally comes from the Greek word for "wanderer" since these objects were seen to move in the sky independently from the background of fixed stars that moved together through the seasons. The IAU last defined the term planet in 2006, however the new definition has remained controversial. Venus as seen in the morning or evening sky. A bolideA very bright fireball that breaks apart in the atmosphere with a minimum brightness approximately equivalent to the full moon. is a special type of fireball which explodes in a bright terminal flash at its end, often with visible fragmentation.

Definition provided by American Meteor Society.