Скачать или смотреть What are Asteroids, Comets, Meteoroid and Meteors? - Differences And Comparison

They are all planetary objects within our solar system orbiting the sun. Did you ever wonder what’s the difference between these three?

What are asteroids?
asteroids are rocky and airless leftovers from formation of the solar system. They are also referred to as minor planets. So far there are a total of 1.1 Million asteroids discovered. They are mostly found between mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt. They are of different sizes ranging from 10 meters to 329 miles.

Now What are Comets?
Comets are small icy bodies mainly composed of ice, dust or rock. They are also leftovers from the formation of our solar system. According to nasa, there are billions of comets inside our solar system. They can be found anywhere in the solar system, most prominent ones are inside the Kuiper belt near Neptune. The Size of a comet can range from 1 mile to tens of miles. When passing closer to the sun, they heat up and release gases leading to a fuzzy appearance. This process is called outgassing.

Now lets see what is a Meteoroid, meteor or meteorite.
Metroid are objects small objects in space made of rock or metal. They mostly fragments of comets or asteroids and are countless. Everyday, approximately 25 million meteoroids enter earth’s atmosphere. Their size range from centimeters to a meter.
When a meteoroid enters earth’s atmosphere, it becomes a meteor which we call a shooting star. The shine of the meteor comes from the glowing particles it leaves behind because of aerodynamic heating.
When a portion of the meteroid passes earth’s atmosphere hits the earth’s surface, the we call it a meteorite. There are several meteorites collected and kept in museums worldwide.

   • What if an asteroid strikes the earth today?  

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