How are meteoroids, meteors and meteorite related?

1 Answer
Jun 16, 2018

Meteoroids and meteors are 2 parts of a whole, meteorites are what they are if they survive the landing to Earth's surface.M

Explanation:

A meteor refers to the flash of light we see in the sky and the meteoroid is the actual debris that makes the light from entering Earth at high velocities. When the meteor hits the ground, if it somehow doesn't burn up in the atmosphere, it is then referred to as a meteorite.

Meteoroid in common language can refer to the rock in space and meteor can refer to what the rock is when it enters the atmosphere. Meteorite remains consistent.

https://upcosmos.com/asteroid-meteor-meteorite-meteoroid-comet-differences/