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[Ari]

Perseid Meteor impact, that or the empire has found the rebel base!
Credit Photographer Petr Horálek

Hypersonic atmospheric reentry causes the compression of gasses in front of the object rapidly heating them up. This is why instead of slowly burning away it appears the meteor hits a wall or space shield. (Compression (and not friction) causing the majority of reentry heat is also why reentry vehicles are pretty blunt allowing for the compression to take place as far in front as possible, leaving a decompressing and thus cooler skin of air around most of the vehicle.) The gas after the the explosion is called a 'persistent train' and is thought to be ionized atmospheric gas slowly recombining with electrons and can persist for quite awhile after the meteor is gone. The vortex ring could have been created by a couple different means, but it mostly means the altitude where the meteor vaporized had pretty calm airflow in comparison to the meteor and atmospheric gasses that it turned to plasma.