What is the difference between comet and meteorite

The title of meteorologist was already taken by those who study weather and weather patterns. This might seem strange, but it makes more sense when you realize that the word meteor was once used to refer to any atmospheric phenomenon—like hail or a hurricane.

Meteorologists know quite easily the difference between weather and climate. Do you? Learn more about them here. Meteorites tend to be bigger than the meteors that burn up before making it to the surface. This makes sense, because the bigger ones have more to get burned away on their way to the surface, while the smaller ones disintegrate into nothing. A meteorite might look like a fireball as it crashes toward Earth, but it eventually cools. The -ite ending is often used in the names of rocks and minerals, such as anthracite.

Meteorite impacts can be pretty violent. The large Chicxulub crater in Mexico is thought to be from the meteorite strike that caused the extinction of many dinosaurs. The biggest impact crater on Earth is the Vredefort crater in South Africa—it was originally miles across. In more casual use, meteorite is also sometimes used as a synonym for meteoroid —a rock traveling through space. Technically speaking, though, the space rocks that reach the ground are typically called meteorites.

Meteoroids , meteors , and meteorites are really names for space rocks at different stages. The ones floating around in space are meteoroids. A meteor shower is what happens when a lot of meteors enter the atmosphere during a relatively short period of time. Many people enjoy meteor showers because they allow you to see many meteors at once.

Asteroids typically consist of rocks or metals. In disaster movies, the big space rock that might destroy the entire planet is usually an asteroid.

Just saying. Thus, this is the main difference between comet and meteor. Choi, Charles Q. Kolmhofer, H. She is currently reading for a Masters degree in English. Her areas of interests include literature, language, linguistics and also food. View all posts. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. As of January , there were 4, known comets, the most famous of which is probably the Halley's Comet, which passes the earth every 75—76 years. There are two main types of comets: short-period comets and longer-period comets.

The short-period comets are commonly believed to originate from the Kuiper belt and associated area, located just beyond the orbit of Neptune.

The longer-period comets are believed to originate in the Oort cloud which is a spherical cloud of icy bodies in the outer Solar System. Like Halley's Comet, short-period comets have short orbits, while longer-period comets take more time to come around. A meteor, on the other hand, is the flash of light that follows a piece of interplanetary debris as it enters our atmosphere. Meteor is not the debris itself, but the flash of light caused by the debris.

We often refer to meteor as a falling star or shooting star. Unlike a comet, a meteor will not return a number of years later. A comet rarely passes within a few million miles of the Earth, while a meteor, by its very definition, must strike the first layers of the Earth's atmosphere.

The arrival of a comet can be predicted with some degree of accuracy, and it can rarely be seen with the naked eye. Meteors can enter the Earth's atmosphere at any time of the day or night and during a shower, it is not unusual to see dozens or even hundreds of them within a few hours. A few large asteroids may receive identifying names as well, but meteors do not. Virtually all of these objects cease to exist once they've entered the Earth's atmosphere, although a rare few make it to the ground.