Learn about meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites. What's the difference? What are they made of? How do they move? Find out, from the University of Arizona, where we've discovered 52% of all known near-Earth objects.

1. No such thing as a
shooting star?!

2. What is a shooting star?
A shooting star is another name
for a meteor.

3. A shooting star is another name
for a meteor. And, oddly enough,
a shooting star isn’t a star at all.
What is a shooting star?

4. Shooting stars are dusty, rocky
bodies that burn up as they pass
through Earth’s atmosphere.

5. Shooting stars vary greatly in size, but
can be as small as a grain of sand

6. & as large as a boulder.

7. A shooting star, or a meteor, becomes classified as a
meteor as soon as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere, with a
bright tail trailing behind it. This is what we see during a
meteor shower, like Geminids or Quadrantids.

8. As shooting stars burn up in Earth’s atmosphere,
they emit a fleeting flash of colorful light.
The color of this light can depend on what exactly
the shooting star is made of.
why are “shooting stars”
different colors?

9. These minerals, of course, have different elements.
Iron, glows yellow, and is pretty common in shooting
stars. Silicate rocks glow red as they burn, while rocks
with copper glow green.
why are “shooting stars”
different colors?

10. Because shooting stars are essentially rocks hurdling
through space, they’re made up of different minerals.
why are “shooting stars”
different colors?

11. clearing up
the M word
Meteor
Meteorites
Meteoroid

12. A meteor is a rocky body that
burns up (and vaporizes!) in
the Earth’s atmosphere
what is a meteor?

13. A meteor is also known as a
shooting star.
what is a meteor?

14. A meteoroid is a general term
for smaller-than-a-regular-
asteroid asteroid; they orbit the
sun and don’t burn up in Earth’s
atmosphere like a meteor does
what is a meteoroid?

15. Meteorites are any portion of
the meteoroid that survives its
voyage through the atmosphere.
what is a meteorite?

16. Meteorites are any portion of
the meteoroid that survives its
voyage through the atmosphere.
what is a meteorite?

17. Because meteoroids are often the
debris left from asteroids smashing
into one another, it is most common
for them to orbit the Sun, same as
asteroids and comets do.
meteor orbit

18. Meteoroids are found near the
rocky inner planets, like Mercury
or Mars,
meteor orbit

19. Meteoroids are found near the
rocky inner planets, like Mercury
or Mars, as well as the outer, gas
planets, like Saturn or Uranus.
meteor orbit

20. Meteoroids can also be found on
the edge of the solar system in
regions including in the Kuiper belt,
meteor orbit

21. Kuiper belt, which was named after the late
University of Arizona astronomer Gerard
Kuiper, who predicted its existence in 1951.
meteor orbit

22. why study meteors?
Being untouched, unprocessed relics from
the formation of our solar system, meteors
provide understanding of the history of the
solar system.

23. why study meteorites?
Some meteorites, for
example, were long ago
chipped off of other planets,
like Mars. By studying this
kind of meteorite, we can
learn more about the red
planet’s geology and
atmosphere over time.

24. The University of Arizona
where more than 52%
of all near-Earth objects,
including meteors,
were discovered
Learn more about these
discoveries at UA Research
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