A meteor is a small piece of rock or metal from space that burns brightly as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, often called a shooting star. Most meteors burn up completely before reaching the ground.
From Greek ‘meteōron,’ meaning ‘thing high up’ or ‘in the air,’ from ‘meta-’ (above) and ‘aer’ (air). It first referred to atmospheric phenomena like comets and shooting stars.
A ‘shooting star’ is not a star at all, but a tiny space rock slamming into our atmosphere at incredible speed. Many meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, yet they produce bright streaks you can see from the ground.
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