What's the difference? Asteroids, comets, meteoroids, meteors and meteorites

Asteroid: A relatively small, inactive, rocky body orbiting the Sun.

Comet:  A relatively small, at times active, object whose ices can vaporize in sunlight forming an atmosphere (coma) of dust and gas and, sometimes, a tail of dust and/or gas.

Meteoroid: A small particle from a comet or asteroid orbiting the Sun.

Meteor: The light phenomena which results when a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere and vaporizes; a shooting star.

Meteorite: A meteoroid that survives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and lands upon the Earth's surface.

NASA 2015

close up view of the asteroid Eros

A close up view of the asteroid Eros, taken by NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission in 2000

close up view of the asteroid Eros ×

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