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Official Kids Mag www.kidscoop.com September 2020
eteors, asteroids, meteorites ...
what's the dierence?
Meteors, asteroids, meteorites and meteoroids
are all names for space rocks. The rocks have
different names depending on their location,
whether they are hurtling through space or
zooming through the atmosphere and hitting
the Earth's surface.
Asteroids are large rocks in
space that orbit the sun. Most
are found in the asteroid belt.
When two asteroids collide,
the particles that break off
are called meteoroids.
If a meteor survives its flaming
trip through our atmosphere
and lands on Earth's surface,
it is called a meteorite.
A meteoroid that enters Earth's
atmosphere begins to vaporize,
becoming a meteor.
When two asteroids
collide in space, the small
pieces that break o are
called meteoroids.
Our solar system is made up of planets
revolving around a sun. Strangely,
between the planets Mars and Jupiter,
there is gap large enough for another
planet, but there is not a planet there.
Instead there are millions of asteroids –
small and large rocks that scientists
believe are the leftover rocks from when
the solar system formed. This zone is
called the asteroid belt.
Solar System Leftovers
Jupiter
Asteroid
Belt
Mars
Earth
sun
Read each description and label
each item on the chart at left.
A S B H F O LO N T V I M N YG C S J T X AG R I S
Circle every other letter to discover another name for meteors.
