What’s the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite?

Meteoroids These rocks still are in space. Meteoroids range in size from dust grains to small asteroids.

Meteors When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.

Meteorites When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

What is a Meteor Shower?

Scientists estimate that about 48.5 tons (44 tonnes or 44,000 kilograms) of meteoritic material falls on Earth each day. Almost all the material is vaporized in Earth’s atmosphere, leaving a bright trail fondly called “shooting stars.”

Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night. Sometimes the number increases dramatically—these events are called meteor showers.

Meteor showers occur annually or at regular intervals as the Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by a comet. Meteor showers are usually named after a star or constellation that is close to where the meteors appear in the sky. Perhaps the most famous are the Perseids, which peak in August every year. Every Perseid meteor is a tiny piece of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which swings by the Sun every 135 years.