Earth-grazing

Adjective

Earth-grazing (not comparable)

1. Of a meteoroid, entering the Earth's atmosphere and leaving into space again.
   • A computer program especially suited to the simulation of Earth-grazing meteors has been listed and described in the Astronomical Computing department of Sky & Telescope. The program allows for the curvature of the Earth; it is therefore possible to follow an Earth-grazing meteor as it descends...1991 August, D. W. Olson, R. L. Doescher, K. M. Watson, “Computer Simulation of Earth-grazing Fireballs”, in WGN, volume 19, number 4, Mechelen, Belgium: International Meteor Organization, →OCLC...
   • Data on an Earth-grazing fireball photographed in 1990 October were published by Borovička and Ceplecha (1992). The U.S. daylight Earth-grazing fireball from 1972 is continuously referred to with much greater mass than the observations indicate (Z. Ceplecha 1993, submitted to Astron. Astrophys.).2012, Z. Ceplecha, “Commission 22: Meteors & Interplanetary Dust/Météores & Poussière Interplanétaire: Photographic Meteors, Fireballs and Spectroscopy”, in Jacqueline Bergeron, editor, Reports on...
2. Approaching the Earth closely.
   • How many [orbital periods] are there in a year for an Earth-grazing satellite? Since the time of Sputnik (October 4, 1957), it has been familiar that a satellite in a low orbit revolves about the Earth in about 90 minutes. That period would be 84 minutes for the hypothetical Earth-grazing satellite.1986, Julian Schwinger, Einstein's Legacy: The Unity of Space and Time (Scientific American Library Series; 16), New York, N.Y.: Scientific American Library, →ISBN, page 219
   • The closest previous sighting of an Earth-grazing asteroid was in March of 1989. It was 330 feet in diameter and passed at 10 times the distance to the moon.1991 January 27, Blaine P. Friedlander Jr., “Asteroid hurtled near Earth Jan. 18”, in The Washington Post