What is the difference between asteroids, comets and meteorites?

Our solar system is filled with planetary objects of all kinds and all forms.

Sputnik has put together the main differences.

asteroids

The asteroid is a rocky or metallic object with a diameter of several meters to several hundred kilometers orbiting the sun. Asteroids generally revolve around the so-called asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, and asteroids are often larger than meteorites and comets.

In March 2006, asteroids were called small planets. There are millions of asteroids on the orbit of the sun.

Comets

Unlike asteroids, these celestial bodies consist of ice, dust and organic compounds, as well as gases such as carbon dioxide or methane. They begin to sublime, which goes from solid to gaseous as they get closer to the Sun. Behind him an aura of dust and gas.

So, once the comet approaches the sun, the solar wind blows and deforms the comet, resulting in the appearance of a tail characteristic of up to several million kilometers. Most comets are formed in the Kuiper Belt, an area of ​​the solar system consisting of bodies and frozen rocks, located near the orbit of Neptune, and in the cloud of Oort.

Comets were formed at the "birth" of the solar system, 4.6 billion years ago.

Meteorites

Meteorites, called shooting stars, are real rains of fire and can be seen more clearly than asteroids and comets at the same time, the smallest of them, whose diameter varies from 100 micrometers to 50 meters.

When a meteorite enters the atmosphere, it is called meteorite, a beam of visible light.

Usually, a meteor can be seen at the naked eye without a telescope.