Tematica Meteoriti, comete, fenomeni astronomici

Soggetto: a fireball passing over a radio-telescope

Anno: 1977

Notizie: On June 20, 1977 Mongolia released a stamp which shows a fireball passing over a radio-telescope array. The stamp is part of a seven stamp set which also includes a souvenir sheet. The set commemorates the eleventh anniversary of the Intercosmos program in which nine socialist countries cooperated in space research. Fireballs occur when a large meteoroid (piece of space debris) enters the Earth's atmosphere. The meteoroid's kinetic energy of motion is converted to heat when it strikes the "brick wall" of Earth's atmosphere and is largely or completely vaporized. The vaporized material glows brilliantly to form the visible fireball. Sometimes fragments of meteoroids survive the fiery journey through the atmosphere to land on the Earth's surface, becoming meteorites.