The difference between an asteroid and a meteorite. A story about these and many other inhabitants of the cosmos

On warm summer nights it is pleasant to walk under the starry sky, to look at the wonderful constellations on it, to make wishes at the sight of the falling star. Or is it a comet? Or maybe a meteorite? Probably, among romantics and lovers there are more connoisseurs of astronomy than among visitors to planetariums.

Mysterious Space

Questions that constantly arise when contemplating cosmic objects require answers, and celestial riddles are the clues and scientific explanations. For example, how does an asteroid differ from a meteorite? Not every schoolchild (and even an adult) can answer this question at once. But let's start in order.

Asteroids

To understand how an asteroid differs from a meteorite, you need to decide on the concept of an "asteroid". This word from the Greek language is translated as "like a star," because these celestial bodies, when viewed in a telescope, resemble stars rather than planets. Until 2006, asteroids were often called small planets. And indeed, the motion of asteroids as a whole does not differ from the planetary movement, because it also occurs around the Sun. From ordinary planets, asteroids are small in size. For example, the largest asteroid Ceres has only 770 km across.

Where are these star-like space inhabitants? Most asteroids are moving along long-studied orbits in the space between Jupiter and Mars. But some small planets still cross the orbit of Mars (as, for example, the asteroid Icarus) and other planets, and sometimes even approach the Sun closer than Mercury.

Meteorites

Unlike asteroids, meteorites are not the inhabitants of the cosmos, but its messengers. Each of the earthlings can see the meteorite with their own eyes and touch it with their own hands. In museums and private collections, a large number of them are stored, but it must be said that meteorites look rather unattractive. Most of them are gray or brownish-black pieces of stone and iron.

So, we managed to figure out how the asteroid differs from the meteorite. But what can unite them? It is believed that meteorites are fragments of small asteroids. Stones that float in space collide with each other, and their fragments sometimes reach the surface of the Earth.

The most famous meteorite in Russia is the Tunguska, which fell in the remote taiga on June 30, 1908. In the recent past, namely in February 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteorite, whose numerous fragments were found near Lake Chebarkul in the Chelyabinsk region, attracted universal attention.

Thanks to meteorites, original guests from space, scientists, and with them all the inhabitants of the Earth, have an excellent opportunity to learn about the composition of celestial bodies and get an idea of the origin of the universe.

Meteors

The words "meteor" and "meteorite" come from one Greek root, meaning "heavenly" in translation. We know what a meteorite is, and how it differs from a meteor is not difficult to understand.

A meteor is not a specific celestial object, but an atmospheric phenomenon that looks like a flash of light. It occurs when fragments of comets and asteroids are burned in the Earth's atmosphere.

A meteor is a falling star. It may seem to observers, fly back into outer space or burn in the Earth's atmosphere.

To understand what meteors differ from asteroids and meteorites is also not difficult. The last two celestial objects are specifically tangible (even theoretically in the case of an asteroid), and a meteor is a glow that arises from the combustion of cosmic fragments.

Comets

No less wonderful is the heavenly body that a terrestrial observer can admire, is a comet. How do comets differ from asteroids and meteorites?

The word "comet" is also of ancient Greek origin and literally translates as "hairy", "shaggy". Comets arrive from the outer part of the solar system, and, accordingly, have a different composition than the asteroids formed near the Sun.

In addition to the difference in composition, there is also a more obvious difference in the structure of these celestial bodies. Comet, when approaching the Sun, unlike an asteroid, shows a foggy shell to whom and a tail consisting of gas and dust. The volatile substances of the comet, as they heat up, are actively released and evaporated, turning it into the most beautiful glowing celestial object.

In addition, asteroids are moving in orbits, and their movement in outer space resembles the smooth and measured motion of ordinary planets. Unlike asteroids, a comet is more extreme in its movements. Its orbit is strongly extended. The comet then comes close to the Sun, then moves away from it a considerable distance.

A comet differs from a meteorite in that it is in motion. The meteorite is the result of a collision of the celestial body with the earth's surface.

The world of heaven and the world of the earth

It must be said that it is twice as pleasant to observe the night sky when its unearthly inhabitants are familiar and understandable to you. And what a pleasure to tell your interlocutor about the world of stars and unusual events in outer space!

And it's not even a matter of how the asteroid differs from the meteorite, but in the awareness of the close connection and deep interaction between the earthly and cosmic world that must be established as actively as the relationship between one person and another.