A meteor is a space rock—or meteoroid—that enters Earth's atmosphere. As the space rock falls toward Earth, the resistance—or drag—of the air on the rock makes it extremely hot. What we see is a "shooting star." That bright streak is not actually the rock, but rather the glowing hot air as the hot rock zips through the atmosphere.

Meteoroids are space rocks that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere, or that of another planet, at high speed and burn up, they’re called meteors. When you see lots if meteors, you’re watching a meteor shower.

meteor and meteoroid, respectively, a glowing streak in the sky (meteor) and its cause, which is a relatively small stony or metallic natural object from space (meteoroid) that enters Earth ’s atmosphere and heats to incandescence.

A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid. Meteors are bits of rocks and ice ejected from comets as they move in their orbits about the sun. A meteor that reaches the ground it is called a meteorite. Meteor showers get their names from the constellation in where their radiant is located.

A meteoroid is a small piece of asteroid or a comet, typically pebble-sized, but could be a little smaller or a little larger, and often created from a collision. When a meteoroid gets close to the Earth and enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s called a meteor. And a meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere at a very high speed.