NAMING SPACE ROCKS

Depending on their size and what they’re made of, space rocks take on new names

1 Meteor shower

These occur at the same time every year, when Earth passes through a region that has a large concentration of debris shed from either a comet or an asteroid. From our location on Earth, meteors appear to originate from the same location year after year.

2 Comet

These bodies are made of ice, rock, dust and frozen gases. Comets have a nucleus and show off a brilliant tail when they get closer to the Sun. As they disintegrate, some comets leave a trail of solid debris.

3 Meteoroid

A small rocky or metallic body that races through space, meteoroids are quite a lot smaller than their larger cousins, asteroids. Lumps of space rock that are even smaller than meteoroids are classified as micrometeoroids, or space dust.

4 Asteroid

Any large lump of space rock over one metre (3.3 feet) in size is classed as an asteroid. They often pass our planet and are found most commonly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

5 Meteor

The streak of light that’s thrown out by a meteoroid or asteroid as it enters the atmosphere at high speed. The brightness comes as the rock rubs against air particles to make friction, heating the meteor.

6 Fireball

This is another term for a very bright meteor. If you ever see a fireball streaking through the night sky, you’ll quickly notice its bright-white to orange hue outshines that of the brightest planet in the sky, Venus.

7 Bolide

Similar to fireballs, but in this instance their brightness is likened to that of a full Moon and even brighter. Bolides often explode in the atmosphere.

8 Meteorite

If a piece of another celestial body survives its passage through the atmosphere and touches down on the ground, we call this piece of space rock a meteorite. They can weigh in at anything from a few grams up to dozens of tonnes.