• smeg
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    17 days ago

    Is “fireball” a technical term here? Because I only know the wizard kind and they do end in a dramatic explosion.

    • Live Your Lives@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      “Fireballs and bolides are astronomical terms for exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to to be seen over a very wide area. … A fireball is an unusually bright meteor that reaches a visual magnitude of -3 or brighter when seen at the observer’s zenith. … Fireballs that explode in the atmosphere are technically referred to as bolides although the terms fireballs and bolides are often used interchangeably.”

      https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/intro.html