Why do meteorites orbit the sun?

The Oort Cloud is a spherical halo of comets surrounding the Solar System at a distance of around 50,000 Astronomical Units. read more

Essentially all objects in the solar system orbit the sun, directly like a planet or indirectly like a moon. This includes comets from the Ort clouds whose orbits are highly elliptical. read more

Orbits within in a Kirkwood gap are not stable, and any asteroid whose orbit wanders into such a region will eventually get pulled into a different orbit, which may take it into the inner solar system. read more

All asteroids with orbits so eccentric that they cross Earth's orbit are called 'Apollo asteroids', 'Amors' approach the Earth but do not cross Earth's orbit. Apollo asteroids are doomed to sooner or later collide with one of the inner planets, usually within a few million years of their orbit becoming so eccentric. read more