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Meteoroids are rocky celestial bodies smaller than asteroids. These objects break away from the Sun's orbit and fall towards the Earth, becoming a meteor.
Meteors:
Meteors are tiny rocks that are found all around the solar system. The meteors enter the earth’s atmosphere at a very high speed and get heated up due to friction. This causes the majority of the object to burn up and evaporate quickly like a bright streak in a short time. These bright streaks of light, which is visible in the night sky, are called Meteors or shooting stars.
Meteor
Meteor showers:
Sometimes, the meteors fall on Earth like a shower and are known as meteor showers. They occur at regular time intervals each year. The time of their visibility can be found through a scientific magazine.
Meteor shower
Meteorites:
Sometimes, the large meteors cannot be burnt completely, and they fall on the Earth's surface. These are known as meteorites.
Meteorite
Meteorites help scientists to understand the nature of the material from which the solar system was formed.
Pictorial representation of celestial bodies
Important!
Every year, around \(3000\) meteorites fall on different parts of the Earth. The Hoba Meteorite in Namibia, is known as the largest discovered meteorite.
Reference:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Holbrook_meteorite%2C_individual.jpg
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