Overview
They’re all related to the flashes of light called “shooting stars” sometimes seen streaking across the sky. But we call the same object by different names, depending on where it is.
What’s the difference between a meteor, meteoroid and meteorite?
Meteoroids are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. Think of them as “space rocks." 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.
When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.