METEOROIDS, METEORS, AND METEORITES

DEFINITION

• Meteoroid- a small rock or debris in space
• Meteor- a meteoroid that burns up in the atmosphere
• Meteorite- meteoriod that reaches Earth's surface

COMPOSITION

• Silicate
• Iron or nickel
• Both

SIZE

• Sand grain
• Boulder sized

LOCATION

• Space
• Atmosphere
• Earth's surface

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Space material on Earth
• Can come from the moon or Mars

CLASSIFICATION

• Stony meteoroids
• Iron meteoroids
• Stony-iron meteoroids

METEORS

• Often called a shooting star
• Millions of meteoroids fall through the atmosphere
• Fireballs can be seen during the day
• Can be seen on any planet with an atmosphere

METEOROIDS

• Fastest travel through space at 26 miles per second
• Some stony meteoroids have organic matter

METEORITES

• Largest meteorite is 119,000 lbs
• Only 1/100 meteorites make it to the surface to study