Asteroids, Meteors and Meteroids: What’s the difference? An asteroid is a piece of rock tiny chunk of rock that broke off an the Geminid meteor shower in mid- left over from the birth of the solar asteroid or comet. This can happen December, you can see between 50 system. Asteroids orbit the sun much when two asteroids collide in space, and 75 meteors per hour, or about like the planets do. They range in size or when comets begin to melt. The one per minute! from smaller than a school bus to smallest meteoroids are the size of a even larger than the Grand Canyon. single grain of sand, and the largest Currently, scientists have counted are about three feet long. Even the 958,636 different asteroids in the largest meteoroids are smaller than solar system. the tiniest asteroid. If a meteoroid gets too close to Earth, it will begin to burn and create a bright streak of light in the This meteorite is made mostly of iron. It sky. When this happens, we call it a landed in Russia in 1947. meteor. You might have also heard it Sometimes, a small piece of called a “shooting star,” even though the meteor isn’t completely burnt up they’re not stars at all. The best time in the atmosphere. When it lands on to spot a meteor is during a meteor Earth’s surface, we call it a meteorite. The Dawn mission visited Vesta, the largest shower, when you can see many You can find meteorites anywhere on asteroid in the Asteroid Belt, in 2011 to Earth, but scientists usually look for create detailed maps. We now know that shooting stars coming from a small Vesta is dry and rocky. part of the sky. During the Perseid them in vast, dry areas (like a desert) Most asteroids are located meteor shower in mid-August and and icy regions (like Antarctica) between Mars and Jupiter in an area because they are much easier to called the asteroid belt. Near Earth spot. Meteorites teach us what objects, or “NEOs” for short, are asteroids are made of and give us asteroids located close to Earth. hints about what our solar system Asteroids are often confused used to look like. with meteoroids, meteors, and Asteroids, meteoroids, meteors meteorites. Although these words and meteorites are all unique objects sound very similar, they are all that provide helpful hints about the Here we see several meteors, or history of our solar system. different objects. A meteoroid is a shooting stars, during a meteor shower.

Konnie is the star projector in our planetarium. Color in comets, asteroids and more as you explore with her!

What’s the Word Bank Across Difference? 2. The name of a meteor shower that happens Antarctica Meteoroid Complete this every December. crossword puzzle 4. This is a small piece of an asteroid. Asteroid Minute using words from the 5. A dry place where scientists search for Belt NEO word bank. meteorites. Desert Perseid 7. Scientists look for meteorites on this continent. 10. The name of a meteor shower that happens Geminid Russia every August. Meteor Sand 11. The largest asteroid in the asteroid belt is Meteorite Vesta named ____.

12. A meteorite landed in this country in 1947. When is the next 13. Most asteroids in the solar system are found in meteor shower? the asteroid ____. Down The American Meteor Society is a group of meteor 1 A ____ lands on Earth’s surface. enthusiasts. Learn how to 3. Short for “Near Earth Object.” spot a meteor, when the 6. Small meteorites are the size of a grain of ____. next meteor shower is, and 7. This large rock orbits the sun. more at their website: 8. This object is also called a “shooting star.” 9. During some meteor showers, you can see one amsmeteors.org meteor per ____.