Dianas Frederick, age 11, of Nashville,T'enn

Is a meteor different from a meteorite?

A meteor is a space traveler, a meteorite is grounded on the earth and travels no more. Countless meteors zoom through the vast stretches of empty space between the planets of our Solar System. Some are speaks of dust, some like grains of sand, some are pebbles and some are big as boulders, These lonely space‑traveling meteors have been speeding through the Solar System for countless ages. Some of them collide with the bulky planets and we see them as shooting stars, burning to ashes as they fall through the air,

A few falling meteors are big enough to reach the ground before burning completely to dust. They hit the ground and become citizens of the earth. These grounded space travelers are lumps of rock or metal and we call them meteorites.