What is the difference between meteoroids meteors and meteorites?

Most of us probably have seen meteors or shooting stars. A meteor is the flash of light that we see in the night sky when a small chunk of interplanetary debris burns up as it passes through our atmosphere. "Meteor" refers to the flash of light caused by the debris, not the debris itself. The debris is called a meteoroid. read more

A meteor is a meteoroid that is passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. In other words, the time during which you can see a meteoroid glowing and streaking through the night sky is the time that it would be considered a meteor. read more

A meteoroid, then, is an object that resembles a meteor; specifically, it is the name given to a body of matter moving in space before it enters Earth’s atmosphere. A meteorite is the name for the rock that remains after a meteor strikes Earth’s surface. read more

Most of us probably have seen meteors or shooting stars. A meteor is the flash of light that we see in the night sky when a small chunk of interplanetary debris burns up as it passes through our atmosphere. read more