Astronomy Magazine
Meteoroid, meteor, meteorite
The same rock, named three times by where it is.
A meteoroid is the object while it is still in space. A meteor is the streak of light it makes burning up in the atmosphere — the light, not the rock. A meteorite is what is left if any of it reaches the ground. Most meteors are produced by particles the size of a grain of sand, moving at tens of kilometres a second, ionising a column of air far larger than themselves. Almost nothing that makes a visible meteor survives to become a meteorite.
Where it has come up lately
ScienceDaily
ScienceDaily
Universe Today
Phys.org
Physics World
Related terms
Near-Earth object
An asteroid or comet whose orbit brings it inside 1.3 astronomical units of the Sun.
Asteroid and comet
Rock that stays rock, and ice that grows a tail when it gets warm.
Coma and tail
A comet's atmosphere, and the two separate tails the Sun pushes off it.
Oort cloud
A shell of icy bodies at the edge of the Sun's influence, inferred rather than observed.
Questions
What is Meteoroid, meteor, meteorite?
The same rock, named three times by where it is.
Why does it matter?
Most meteors are produced by particles the size of a grain of sand, moving at tens of kilometres a second, ionising a column of air far larger than themselves. Almost nothing that makes a visible meteor survives to become a meteorite.