Asteroids Meteoroids Meteors & Meteorites

What’s the difference between asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites? Well if you don’t know you’re not alone. Many people confuse them and use the terms interchangeably when in fact they aren’t all the same at all. In it’s simplest form an asteroid is BIG, a meteoroid is smaller, meteors are flaming meteoroids as they are entering Earth’s atmosphere, and a meteorite is what survives impact with the ground.

Ceres - A Dwarf Planet - Largest Object In Asteroid Belt Shown Here In Comparison To Earth & Our Moon

An asteroid is typically defined as a larger body of rock or iron floating through space. Some asteroids are as small as a car, and others like Ceres is huge in comparison. In fact Ceres is considered to be a Dwarf Planet.

A meteoroid is usually much, much smaller down to a minuscule sand sized particle though a meteoroid is can be as large as a boulder or bigger. Notice I said “or bigger”. Basically a large meteoroid and a small asteroid are the same thing.

Asteroids and meteoroids are both considered meteors  if they enter into Earth’s atmosphere. The term meteor is actually referring to the incandescence or flaming of the meteoroid body as it is plunging through the atmosphere at high speed. This speed is called cosmic velocity. This is a very high speed from 11,000 mph to 50,000 mph.

A very large meteor is known as a fireball and is usually caused by a larger body. A meteoroid or asteroid the size of a boulder or car will produce a very large and bright fireball even in the daylight. (NOTE: The International Astronomical Union defines a fireball as “a meteor brighter than any of the planets” (magnitude -4 or greater) Source: Wikipedia

Asteroid Ida

A meteor shower is NOT caused by an asteroid, typically. The reason I say typically is because a most meteor showers are regular events that happen periodically throughout the year, and are remnants of dust and micro meteoroids left over by the passage of comets through our solar system. When the Earth travels through the trails of dust and debris left over from the comets it produces what we know as meteor showers like the Leonids, the Geminids, and Quadrantids. The meteor showers get their names from the radiant (where the originate in the sky). For example the Leonids radiant is from the constellation of Leo. This is not to say that meteor shower come from the stars in the constellations. They do not. The meteors you see during any meteor shower are from comets and sometimes can be from an asteroid.

Now that we know what a meteor is, what about meteorites? A meteorite is any piece of natural rock or iron from space which survives entry through the Earth’s atmosphere and impact with the ground.

Or you can take your pick of definitions online:

Definitions of meteorite on the Web:

• stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth’s surface
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth’s surface. …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite
• Meteorite is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe who first appeared in the comic series, the Thunderbolts.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite_(comics)
• meteoritic – of or relating to or caused by meteorites
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• A part of a meteoroid that survives through the Earth’s atmosphere.
  earthsci.org/processes/geopro/volc/volcterm.htm
• Any solid object from interplanetary space that has fallen to the earth’s surface without being vaporized during its passage through the atmosphere.
  www.eps.mcgill.ca/~litho/glossary.html
• the part of the meteor that actually reaches the Earth’s surface.
  www.wsd1.org/southd/science/glossary.htm
• a chunk of rock from space that strikes the surface of Earth
  scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/Problem_Board/problems/habitat/glossary.html
• A solid fragment of some planetary body that has passed through the Earth’s atmosphere and landed intact on its surface.
  www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/school/clc/visits/glossary.asp
• A mass of stone or metal that has reached the earth from outer space; a fallen meteoroid.
  www.polartrec.com/vocabulary
• Fragment of a meteor found on the ground.
  www.spaceweather.eu/en/glossary

Scientifically speaking meteorites are of great interest and hold within them the secrets of the universe.

Humanly speaking they’re the coolest rocks on the face of the planet. In this writers opinion of course.