SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Most of this comet debris is between the size of a grain of sand and a pea and burns up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground. Sometimes, meteor dust is captured by high-altitude aircraft and analyzed in NASA laboratories.

Detailed explanation-2: -The small particles which become meteors typically range from the size of a grain of sand up to the size of a pea. When heated to incandescence by friction with air in our atmosphere, they burn up completely at heights of about 80 km-130 km.

Detailed explanation-3: -Most meteors are only about the size of a grain of sand, and burn up completely in the atmosphere. Once in a while, however, a large meteor will survive and hit the ground (at which time it is called a meteorite).

Detailed explanation-4: -Meteoroids are small particles-often no bigger than a grain of sand-that orbit our Sun. When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere, they produce brilliant streaks of light that can be seen in our sky. These brief streaks of light-and the particles that are moving through our atmosphere-are meteors.

Detailed explanation-5: -These range in size from boulders measuring about 3 feet (1 meter) wide down to micrometeoroids the size of dust grains, according to the American Meteor Society (opens in new tab)(AMS).

Detailed explanation-6: -Asteroids aren’t all round like planets. They have jagged and irregular shapes. Some asteroids are hundreds of miles in diameter, but many more are as small as pebbles.