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In 1969, a celestial light show burst through the sky over Chihuahua, Mexico.
1969年，墨西哥奇瓦瓦上空爆发了一场天光秀。
These lights in the sky are called meteors.
天空中的这些光被称为流星。
Or is that meteorites?
或者那是陨石？
Maybe meteoroids?
也许是流星体？
Are those all different things?
这些都是不同的东西吗？
And if they are, what is the difference?
如果是，有什么不同？
Actually, they are all different.
事实上，它们都是不同的。
But they're pretty closely related.
但它们是密切相关的。
The streaks of light are in fact meteors.
这些光带实际上是流星。
But the small, rocky bodies that cause the lights-- those are meteoroids.
但是产生光的小的岩石天体 --是流星体。
And when a piece of a meteoroid survives the trip and hits the ground, that object is called a meteorite.
当流星体的一块碎片在飞行过程中幸存下来并撞到地面时，这个物体被称为陨石。
So let's talk about our Mexican light show.
让我们来谈谈我们的墨西哥天光秀吧。
It actually started out as a single object about the size of a car flying through space.
它最初只是一个汽车大小的物体，在太空中飞行。
That object was a meteoroid, a body orbiting the sun that's smaller than an asteroid or comet.
这个物体是一个流星体，一个比小行星或彗星还小的绕太阳运行的物体。
In February 1969, that meteoroid hit Earth's atmosphere.
1969年2月，那颗流星体撞上了地球大气层。
And it hit it fast.
而且它撞击的速度很快。
Meteoroids fall at a minimum speed of 25,000 miles per hour.
流星体以最低每小时25,000英里的速度坠落。
At that speed, the friction from the air began to heat up the object.
在这个速度下，空气的摩擦力开始使物体升温。
In fact, it made it so hot that it began to burn brightly across the sky as a meteor.
事实上，会使它变得温度非常高，以至于它开始像流星一样明亮地划过天空。
This particular meteoroid didn't just burn. It exploded into pieces.
这颗特殊的流星体不只是燃烧。它炸成了碎片。
Now, most meteoroids burn up entirely as meteors.
现在，大多数流星体会以流星的形式完全燃烧。
And some of these pieces did just that.
其中一些碎片就是这样。
But a few made their way through the atmosphere to hit the ground.
但也有一些穿过大气层撞到了地面。
Those remnants are known today as the Allende Meteorite.
这些残余物今天被称为阿连德陨石。
Even though there are lots of stones, they're all considered part of the same meteorite.
尽管有很多石头，但它们都被认为是同一颗陨石的一部分。
All in all, about two tons of this meteorite was recovered.
总之大约共发现了两吨陨石。
Study of the Allende Meteorite reveals that it is one of the oldest objects in the solar system-- older than Earth itself.
对阿连德陨石的研究表明，它是太阳系中最古老的物体之一，比地球本身还古老。
So where do meteoroids like this come from?
那么像这样的流星体是从哪里来的呢？
Well, almost all of them are actually fragments of asteroids, the larger rocky bodies that orbit the sun and a big belt between Mars and Jupiter.
实际上，它们几乎都是小行星的碎片，小行星是围绕太阳运行的较大岩石天体，是火星和木星之间的一条大带。
A few, though, are actually moon rocks.
不过，有一些实际上是月球岩石。
And some even come from Mars.
有些甚至来自火星。
So if you ever see one of these interplanetary travelers lighting up the night sky, now you'll know that you're seeing a meteor caused by a burning meteoroid.
因此，如果你曾经看到这些星际旅行者点亮了夜空，现在你就会知道你看到的是一颗由燃烧的流星体引起的流星。
And if you're very lucky, you might even find a meteorite when it hits the ground.
如果你非常幸运，你甚至可能会发现落到地面上的陨石。
