Leonid Meteor Shower
It's a bird! It's a Plane! It's a comet! No wait, a meteor! Or maybe an Asteroid? I know I'm guilty of using these three word synonymously, but each one has a distinct astronomical definition.
Meteoroids are small bodies that range from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a car. Meteoroids that enter Earth's atmosphere are called meteors and when they fall in groups they are called meteor showers. Most meteors break apart completely as they fall through Earth's atmosphere, but those that survive and impact the ground are called meteorites.
Comets are large bodies in the solar system made mostly of ice, dust and small rocks. They range in size from 100m (~300ft) to 100km (~62 miles) and originate from the outer edges of our solar system. Comets are different from other astronomical bodies because they have a visible tail resulting from the solar wind stripping particles off of the comet. About 4,200 different comets have documented in our solar system, and pass by Earth periodically. Comets continue to orbit the sun until they either break apart from solar radiation, crash into the sun, or get ejected from the solar system.
Asteroids are a broad term for pretty much any body in the solar system that's not a planet, moon, meteoroid, or comet. They can be any size or shape and exist in two main areas: the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. Some asteroids orbit closer the to the planets. Astronomers are working on finding and classifying all such asteroids so we can watch for any that might be on a collision course towards Earth!
Image Credit: Geek.com/gearlog
