Asteroid, Meteoroid, Meteor, Meteorite: What Is the Difference?

A space rock can be a meteoroid, meteor, or meteorite depending on where it is, while asteroids are larger rocky bodies orbiting the Sun.

Astronomy

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The words asteroid, meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite describe related space material, but they are not simply the same object with a different name. An asteroid is a relatively large rocky or metallic body orbiting the Sun. Smaller pieces of asteroids or comets are called meteoroids while they remain in space. When a meteoroid enters a planetary atmosphere and produces the bright streak we see in the sky, that visible phenomenon is called a meteor. If part of the incoming material survives the atmospheric passage and reaches the ground, it is called a meteorite. The original discussion blurred some of these terms, which led to a useful clarification: a meteor is the visible light produced during atmospheric entry, not simply the name of the space rock itself. Meteoroids can come from asteroids, comets, and, in rarer cases, material blasted from the Moon or other planets. Comets are different because they contain substantial ice and dust and can develop a visible coma and tail near the Sun. Meteorites are especially valuable to scientists because they preserve material from the early Solar System and can reveal information about the bodies from which they originated.

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