How much of a meteoroid’s kinetic energy becomes visible light?

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Meteor and meteoroid The Cabin Creek meteorite, an iron (nickel-iron alloy) meteorite that was observed to fall in northwestern Arkansas on March 27, 1886. Its characteristic pattern of “thumbprint” dimples, or regmaglypts, is the result of melting and consequent ablation of its surface as it traveled through the atmosphere. The meteorite is likely a fragment of one of the M class asteroids, which show significant nickel-iron in their surface material.

Approximately 0.1 to 1 percent of a meteoroid’s original kinetic energy is transformed into visible light as it enters the atmosphere.

Most of the remaining energy is converted into heat, which is used to vaporize and ionize the surface material of the meteoroid and the surrounding atmospheric gas, as well as to push aside the air the object encounters during its flight.1