Meteor vs. Meteorite
What is Difference between Meteor and Meteorite? Over the years, some of us have been lucky enough to be witnesses to one or another spatial phenomenon. Some very beautiful and some truly amazing have been observed, but they all have something in common; arouse our curiosity to know what causes them or why they happen.
Among the most popular are meteors, but sometimes we also refer to these as meteorites and the truth is that they are different things, for this reason, then we go to the task of explaining what is the difference between Meteor and Meteorite.
Difference between Meteor and Meteorite
Meteor
A meteor is the flash of light that follows a piece of debris (meteoroid) that enters the atmosphere. It is not the piece of matter itself, but the luminous flash that follows it (it looks like a fire tail). We often see meteors and say they are shooting stars (no that we see are not stars).
How do meteors occur? Are caused because the material is heated due to the friction of the Earth’s atmosphere until it reaches a point where it is on fire.
They happen all the time, but the light pollution and the light projected by the moon do not let us always see them; especially in cities. Of course, some meteors present more meteors than others.
Meteorite
When meteoroids (particles of ice, rock, or dust) do not disintegrate in the atmosphere and fall to Earth, they are called meteorites (each of its parts is also called that).
Meteors can be of different size or weight. One of the largest meteorites ever found is the Willamette meteorite, the largest sex in the world and the largest sex found in the United States. It measures 10 feet high, 6 feet 5 feet wide, 4 feet 25 feet deep, and weighs about 32,000 pounds (14, 5 tons). However, the largest meteorite found on Earth is the Hoba, which weighs about 60 tons.
Not only on this planet do meteorites fall, but also in other regions like the moon and Mars; therefore, a meteorite is any piece of matter that does not disintegrate in the atmosphere and strikes against the surface of a celestial body.
There are different types of meteorites, some are composed mostly of rocks, others by metals or minerals such as silicate … but currently they are mainly classified according to their structure, chemical composition and isotope and their mineralogy.
The Key difference between meteor and meteorite is Meteors are the light gates that occur when pieces of matter (meteoroids) enter the atmosphere, while meteorites are meteoroids that do not disintegrate in the atmosphere and make an impact on the surface.