What are Meteors and Meteoroids?
Rocks
and dust particles from space that are about to collide with Earth's
atmosphere are called meteoroids. Those that enter and streak through
the atmosphere are called meteors.
What causes a Meteor Shower?
Usually
when comets, which are chunks of ice with lot of dust, come close to
the sun, the ice melts and the dust and rocks are left behind along the
orbit of the comet. If Earth, in its yearly motion around the Sun
happens to pass through such a debris trail, they enter the Earth’s
atmosphere with considerable speed and due to friction in the
atmosphere, burns up and give rise to not only a single bright streak in
the sky but numerous meteors, called meteor shower.
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