Mervin's Meteor Webpage

Meteors are any interplanetary matter in space that cannot be classifed as a comet or asteroid due to its size. The word meteor comes from the greek word "meteoron" which means phenomenon in the sky. Meteors are generally made of rock like the outside of terrestrial planets. When you look at a meteor, a shooting star from outer space, you see a ball of debris followed by a tail. Sizes of these objects can vary from one hundred meters in length to less than one meter in length. Most meteors are the remains from broken comets or left over peices from colliding asteroids. Like comets and asteroids meteors are made of ancient materials that can help us figure out how early conditions were like in our solar system.

The names of meteors vary depending on the loacation contrast to the Earth. Before the meteor flies through the Earth's atmosphere it's classified as a meteroid. After the meteor passes the atmosphere and lands on Earth, the remains are called meteorites. Meteoroids produces a flash of light like a comet but unlike the comet, the meteors flash is relatively small.

Every time a comet passes the sun, peices of it breaks off and the debris travel in a very compact groups that are called meteoroid swarms. Over time the swarm breaks up even more and turns into even smaller meteoroids called micrometeoroids. Over time theses tiny meteoroids become more or less spread around the orbit of the comet from which it came from. Once in a while the earth will cross a group of meteoroids and then a meteor shower will occur. Meteor showers are made up of lots of meteoroids flying through the earth's atmosphere. Meteor showers can last for several days and are named after the constellation that it supposedly came from.

In conclusion, meteors are interplanetary debris found around the universe. They can come from peices of comets or colliding asteroids. Meteors can be from one hundred meters in lenght to less than one meter in lenght. Meteors are rocky like the ouside of terrestrial palnets. Meteroids like asteroids and comets are made up of ancient materials that can tell us lots of information about our solar system.

This page was written by Mervin Ramnaraine, a student from Coconut Creek, Florida.