the difference between comets, meteors, shooting stars
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A comet is a small, icy rock that orbits the Sun in a highly eccentric elliptical orbit, i.e. it gets very close to the Sun and then very far away. When it gets close to the Sun it gets warmer and releases gases, leaving a trail behind it.
A meteor and a shooting star are the same thing – a streak of bright light generated from a heated objects as it crashes to Earth. They are not the actual body – the body itself is a comet, asteroid or meteoroid, and once it crashes it is known as a meteorite.
Its almost just the naming.
Asteroid: Rock flying through space.
Meteor: Rock flying and burning through the atmosphere.
Shooting star: same as meteor, except it could also be (debris of) satellites instead of a rock.
Meteorite: The remains of the rock if it did not completely burn up and is now on the ground.
Comet: A rock which also has other stuff on it, like ice or gases which are expelled and create a visible tail if the comet comes close to the Sun and heats up.
Meteors: small rocks that are orbiting the Earth
Comets: large chunks of ice and rock that orbit the sun
Shooting stars: meteors that burn up when entering Earth’s atmosphere
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