Meteoroid, Meteor and Meteorite

 A meteoroid is any solid debris originating from asteroids, comets or other celestial object and floats through interplanetary space.

 A meteor is the streak of light that appears in the sky when a meteoroid enters the atmosphere (mesosphere) at about 200 km at high speed and burns up because of the friction.

A meteor is popularly termed a ‘shooting star’ or ‘falling star’.

In some cases, the meteoroid does not burn up completely and makes its way to the Earth’s surface. The surviving chunk is called a meteorite.

The circular depression created on the earth’s surface after the meteorite’s impact is called as a meteorite crater.

Meteorite impacts are common on all planets and moons in the solar system.

The most conspicuous meteorite craters can be found on the surfaces of the Moon and Mercury (because they are geologically inactive due to negligible atmosphere).

Largest Meteor Crater: A meteor crater in Arizona (USA) is 1,300 m deep is the largest meteor crater in the world. It was formed over 10,000 years ago.


Chicxulub crater

Chicxulub crater (Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula) was caused by a meteor impact that is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs (mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous 65 million years ago).