Difference Between Meteor and Meteorite

Meteor vs Meteorite

Meteor and Meteorite comes from an object with a size like that of sand that is enters the earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, they can also be the resulting debris of two clashing asteroids. Scientists have always been so delightful in studying these two things.

Meteor

Falling star, wishing star, and shooting star are three common names of a meteor. Actually, meteor is not the actual object but the image of light that is created when a meteoroid enters our atmosphere at high speed and burns up because of the friction present in air molecules. Meteors generally can be seen during night time and only a few can be seen due to its tiny size.

Meteorite

Meteorites are meteoroids that enter or pass through the earth’s atmosphere. When a meteorite hits the ground, it is called a fall. A common practice by scientists and astrologists is to name the meteorites based on the location where it is found. There are 3 main types of meteorites namely: stone, iron, and stone-iron (a stone type meteorite with irons in it).

Difference between Meteor and Meteorite

Meteoroid that enters the earth’s atmosphere is called a meteorite and the light that is created due to the burning of the meteorites is called a meteor. A meteor shower occurs when several meteorites enter our atmosphere at once and easily get burned up enabling us to see hundreds of meteors depending on where you location. There are 3 common names for a meteor (shooting star, falling star, and wishing star) while there are 3 main types of a meteorite (stone-iron, stone, and iron type). Meteorites come from meteoroids and meteors come from meteorites.

There’s a misconception that exist wherein people thinks that the when a debris entered our atmosphere, it’s called a meteor and when it landed on the ground, that’s when it is called as meteorites. We must make it clear and stop this misconception by strongly pointing out the fact that meteors are just the glowing light that we can see and not the debris itself, The debris itself is the meteorite and when it landed on earth’s ground it is now called falls and/or finds.