whats the difference between asteroids, meteors, meteorites, and comets?

Question

Whats the difference?

Answer 1

Asteroids, also called minor planets or planetoids, are a class of astronomical object. The term asteroid is generally used to indicate a diverse group of small celestial bodies that drift in the solar system in orbit around the Sun. Asteroid (Greek for "star-like") is the word used most in the English literature for minor planets, which has been the term preferred by the International Astronomical Union; some other languages prefer planetoid (Greek: "planet-like"), because it more accurately describes what they are. In late August 2006, the IAU introduced the term "small solar system bodies" (SSSBs), which includes most objects thusfar classified as minor planets, as well as comets. At the same time they introduced the term dwarf planet for the largest minor planets. This article deals specifically with the minor planets that orbit in the inner solar system (roughly up to the orbit of Jupiter). For other types of objects, such as comets, Trans-Neptunian objects, and Centaurs, see Small solar system body.

A meteor is the visible path of a meteoroid that enters the Earth's (or another body's) atmosphere, commonly called a shooting star or falling star.

A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth's surface without being destroyed. While in space it is called a meteoroid. When it enters the atmosphere, air resistance causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. The term bolide refers to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface.

A comet is a small body in the solar system that orbits the Sun and (at least occasionally) exhibits a coma (or atmosphere) and/or a tail — both primarily from the effects of solar radiation upon the comet's nucleus, which itself is a minor body composed of rock, dust, and ices. Comets' orbits are constantly changing: their origins are in the outer solar system, and they have a propensity to be highly affected (or perturbed) by relatively close approaches to the major planets. Some are moved into sungrazing orbits that destroy the comets when they near the Sun, while others are thrown out of the solar system forever.

Answer 2

Asteroids are the small rocky objects in the Solar System. The largest asteroid is Ceres, which is 933 kilometers (580 miles) across. The smallest asteroids that we've observed in detail are only tens of meters in size, but there are probably a great number of small rocks in space that are currently too small for us to detect. Meteors are the short, white trails across the sky that we call "shooting stars." They are caused by small pea-sized pieces of inter-planetary dust that burn up when they slam into the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds. A rock that fell from space this way is called a meteorite. Comets are objects composed mostly of ice and dust that grow tails when they approach the sun. All comets have a nucleus, which is the hard rock/ice object.

Answer 3

"asteroid" = looks like a star (in 19th century telescopes, planets showed a disk while minor planets did not, they looked like points of light, just like stars). The word is now reserved for minor planets that are inside Neptune's orbit (the outer ones are called Trans-Neptunian Objects)

"meteor" = phenomena of the atmosphere (From the Greek "meteora" = very high thing). The science that studies the atmosphere is meteorology and, in that science, a cloud is a meteor. In astronomy, a rock that becomes visible as its streaks into the atmosphere is a meteor; if it makes it to the ground, it becomes a meteorite; the antecedent is a meteoroid (the piece of rock in orbit, before it hits our atmosphere).

comet is from the Greek "kometes" = hairy. A star with hair. It is an icy object which liberates gases and dust as it approaches the Sun. Because of light pressure and magnetic field, the escaping gas and dust form a tail (or two) which appear to float behind the head.

Answer 4

Asteroid = a rock in space.
Meteor = a rock that had entered the Earth's atmosphere.
Meteorite = a rock fallen from space on the ground.
Comet = A frozen rock (or iron) that orbits the Sun and usually takes many (dozens to thousands) years to complete one orbit. When approaching the Sun the ice slowly melts and leaves a trail, millions of miles long, of vapor.