The operator of such a meteorite detector wears earphones and watches a signal needle in plain sight on the top panel of the detector. Since the phone and signal-needle circuits of the meteorite detector are _in balance_ only when the magnetic field generated by the detector is undistorted, the disturbing presence of a deeply buried meteorite is at once revealed by a shrill note sounding in the earphones and simultaneous motion of the signal needle. If, as in all buried treasure stories, we use “X” to stand for the spot where the signals from the detector are strongest, then the meteorite-hunter has only to dig deep enough at “X” to recover the celestial treasure-trove he is after. 8. THE NATURE OF METEORS In answer to an exam question, a freshman astronomy student wrote: A _meteor_ is the flash of light Made by a falling _meteorite_ As it rushes through the air in flight— I hope to gosh this answer’s right! Doggerel or not, the student’s definition correctly stated the true distinction between the two terms, and the teacher marked his off-beat answer correct. Defined in more scientific terms, a meteor is the streak of light (usually of brief duration) that accompanies the flight of a particle of matter from outer space through our atmosphere. This particle may be as small as a tiny dust grain or as large as one of the minor planets which are called asteroids. Fortunately for the inhabitants of the earth, most of the meteor-forming masses encountered by our globe are of the “small-fry” variety! As the rapidly moving particle plunges earthward through denser and denser layers of atmosphere, the air molecules offer ever-increasing resistance to its passage. This resistance heats up the meteorite body until it glows. Technically speaking, it becomes incandescent. _The meteor is this incandescence._ We see it as a darting point. Or as a ball of white, orange, bluish, or reddish light. But the _material object_ that produced this light is the _meteorite_. The distinction between these two terms—meteor and meteorite—we must emphasize again and again because people continue to use them incorrectly, as, for instance, when they keep saying “meteor crater” instead of “meteorite crater.” The majority of the meteors we observe represent the heat-induced “evaporation” of exceedingly small fragments of cosmic matter. The smallest meteor-forming bodies reach the surface of the earth only as the finest of dust particles or as microscopic droplets of solidified meteorite melt.