A meteor falls to Earth. Credit: Spaceweather.com
The best way to tell you what are the differences between asteroids and meteors is to tell what each is and let you judge the differences yourself. The main differences between asteroids and meteors is in their actions and composition.
First up will be meteors.
Meteors are the white streaks across the sky that we sometimes call shooting stars. They are usually about the size of a pea and are harmless to the Earth. Most burn up before they can impact. A meteor shower happens when the Earth’s orbit takes it through the orbital path of a comet that had left quite a bit of dust behind. The shower begins when the dust hits the Earth’s atmosphere. Once in a great while a rock will be big enough to survive the atmosphere and cause a fireball that falls to Earth. These surviving pieces are call meteorites.
Asteroids can be large or small. Some are large enough to have been classified as planets at one time. Those are now called dwarf planets. Some are as small as a particle of dust. The smallest ones have never been seen, but they are known to exist. Most asteroids orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter in what is called the “Main Belt”. Asteroid vary in their makeup, size, and mass. Most have odd shapes from collisions that are millions of years old. Some asteroids have an orbit that takes them close to Earth. NASA keeps a close eye on those asteroids. Some asteroids actually have a small moon or travel in pairs. On rare occasions asteroids can be seen with the unaided eye, but usually a pair of binoculars or a small(76-100mm) telescope is needed.
The main differences between asteroids and meteors seem to be in that asteroids have a set orbit and meteors do not and in size. Asteroids can be seen with the help of binoculars or a telescope and meteors usually are only seen as they enter the atmosphere. As was said earlier in this article, the main differences between asteroids and meteors is in their composition and actions. To fully understand each of these space phenomenon, you should read as much as possible about each one.
We have written many articles about both asteroids and meteors. Here’s an article about asteroid imposters, and here’s an article about solving the asteroid/meteorite puzzle.
Want more resources on asteroids? Here’s NASA’s Lunar and Planetary Science Page on asteroids. And here’s Hubblesite’s News Releases about Asteroids.
We have recorded two episodes of Astronomy Cast about asteroids. There’s Episode 55: The Asteroid Belt, and here’s Episode 29: Asteroids Make Bad Neighbors.
References:
NASA: Why Study Comets, Meteors and Asteroids?
NASA: Asteroids
NASA: Meteors
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