Asteroids, Meteors, Meteorites, and Comets

Asteroids, Meteors, Meteorites, and Comets — page 3
Sometimes one can see a flash of light streak across the night sky and disappear This is commonly called a shooting star though they are not stars They are small chunks of stone metal or other materials that orbit the Sun Sometimes they enter Earth’s atmosphere and the friction generated generated by their great speed causes them to burn up The fragments may either vaporize before traveling far or actually hit the ground These objects have different names depending depending on their location One that is beyond Earth’s atmosphere is called a meteoroid A meteoroid that enters Earth’s atmosphere is called a meteor A meteor that actually lands on Earth’s surface is called a meteorite Meteorites which are sturdy enough to reach the ground are mostly pieces of asteroids or huge rocks that orbit the Sun Comets on the other hand are flimsy objects made mostly of frozen water frozen gases and some gritty material They also orbit the Sun Meteoroids vary from small rocks to boulders weighing a ton or more A relative few have orbits that bring them into Earth’s atmosphere and down to the surface as meteorites Most meteorites that have been collected on Earth are probably from 6 INTRODUCTION