GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -Think of them as “space rocks.” When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

Detailed explanation-2: -Meteoroids Meteoroids are fragments and debris in space resulting from collisions among asteroids, comets, moons, and planets. They are among the smallest “space rocks.” We can see them when they streak through our atmosphere in the form of meteors and meteor showers.

Detailed explanation-3: -The pieces that do strike Earth’s surface are called meteorites. Both meteors and meteorites can become natural hazards to the communities they impact. Very large meteors called bolides may explode in the atmosphere with the force of 500 kilotons of TNT.

Detailed explanation-4: -Craters produced by the collision of a meteorite with the Earth (or another planet or moon) are called impact craters.