What is a meteor?
A meteor is the streak of light you see when a small piece of space rock or dust burns up in Earth's atmosphere. People often call meteors shooting stars.
Three related words are easy to mix up. A meteoroid is a small rock or particle traveling through space. When it enters Earth's atmosphere at high speed, the air in front of it heats up and glows, and that streak of light is the meteor. If any piece survives and lands on the ground, it is called a meteorite.
Most meteors come from particles no bigger than a grain of sand, entering the atmosphere at speeds of about 11 to 72 kilometers per second. They usually burn up between 75 and 120 kilometers above the ground. Very bright meteors, brighter than the planet Venus, are called fireballs.
Meteor showers
Meteor showers happen when Earth passes through trails of dust left by comets. The Perseids peak every August and come from Comet Swift-Tuttle, while the Geminids in December come from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon. The best viewing is usually after midnight, away from city lights.
Did You Know?
Scientists estimate that dozens of tons of space dust and meteoroids fall into Earth's atmosphere every day.