Which are larger Meteors, Asteroids or Comets?

Question

Of the three which is the fastest mover?

Answer 1

They all vary in size Meteors are what an Astroid is after it enters the atmosphere and a comet has a path around a solar system cause by that systems sun.

Answer 2

Asteroids and comets vary greatly in size; some asteroids are bigger than most comets, and some comets are bigger than most asteroids. It's very hard to say what the size distributions of each type are, especially since very little is known about the number and sizes of comets.

Meteors are not really their own class--a meteor is an asteroid that happens to hit the earth. When that happens, the meteor gets smaller .

The difference is in where they are and how they formed; asteroids are made of heavier materials and are found relatively close to the sun (inside the orbit of Jupiter) and in the plane of the solar system. Comets are made mostly of ices and formed much farther out and in more eccentric orbits that may be out of the plane. They're called comets when they happen to pass into the inner solar system for some reason. When that happens, the comets are moving faster than asteroids generally do, but while they're far away they move slower.

Answer 3

Size has nothing to do with them. An Asteroid is an asteroid until it enters the earths atmosphere. At that point it becomes a meteor. If it hits the ground, then it becomes a meteorite. A comet is just "a dirty snowball" that has an orbit around the sun. I think the comets are the fastest though. Somewhere around 180,000 mph.

Answer 4

A meteor is a piece of rock that is falling through planetary atmosphere. An asteroid is a piece of rock that is orbiting in space. A comet is a giant ice ball that usually has a very LARGE orbit--way larger than Pluto, for instance. Meteors and Asteroids can be any size, and either can be larger than the other. A comet is usually much larger, but it's ice, not rock, and it's not necessarily bigger.

So, which is longer, a piece of string or a piece of thread? Same answer.

Answer 5

Meteors are essentailly rocks in space, while asteroids are the same, but are in orbit in the belt of space between Mars and Jupiter. Any asteroid that enters earth's atmosphere is considered a "meteor". Ones that burn up are meteors and one that hit the ground are "meteorites".

Comets are far different. They are essentially huge blass of dirty snow and ice with chucks of rock.

The speed of things: If I recall correctly, the average comet moves around 25,000 miles per hour. when they approach planetary bodies they can get up to 70,000 and clsoer to the sun they can reach half a million miles per hour.

So the comets win the races.

Answer 6

Meteors and asteroids are the same thing -- meteors are those that hit the Earth or its atmosphere. They can be any size from spec of dust up to planet sized.

Not sure what size comets are -- they can't be too small, at least not the ones we see.

If you're really interested, hop onto NASA's web site. They have tons of info and lotsa cool pictures. You could lose yourself there for hours.

nasa.gov

Answer 7

All can be about the same size -- the difference is composition (not size) and location. Speed can vary as much as the composition. Some speed up as they fly toward the sun others are slowed as they hit planets or other space debris.

ASTEROID: any of the small rocky celestial bodies found especially between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
METEOR: any of the small particles of matter in the solar system that are directly observable only by their incandescence from frictional heating on entry into the atmosphere
COMET: a celestial body that appears as a fuzzy head usually surrounding a bright nucleus, that has a usually highly eccentric orbit, that consists primarily of ice and dust, and that often develops one or more long tails when near the sun

Answer 8

Comets. They also have the potential to be the fastest movers relative to the earth since they come from beyond our solar system and are accelerated over great distances as they fall inwards towards the sun.

Answer 9

Asteroids

Answer 10

Metoers are usually smaller than asteroids, which can be a hundred miles around or more.
Comets are actually balls of ice. The tail being caused by melting
as it approaches the sun. I imagine they are around the size of a good sized asteroid.