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Why can a meteor appear to flare or give off sparks?

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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.

A meteor appears to flare or emit sparks primarily due to the intense physical stresses and thermal processes occurring as a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere at high velocity.12

As the object travels through the atmosphere, it experiences extreme frictional heating, which causes its surface material to vaporize or shed as molten droplets—a process known as ablation. Additionally, the aerodynamic pressure exerted on the meteoroid can exceed its structural strength, leading to fragmentation. These events—the shedding of molten material and the catastrophic breaking apart of the object—are what observers perceive as flares or the emission of sparks.1

This rapid release of kinetic energy creates a luminous region of ionized gas and vaporized material that travels with the meteoroid, resulting in the characteristic glowing streak observed in the sky.12