If you watch the sky on a clear dark night, you might see a bright flash or a streak of light. These streaks of light are meteors. Meteors are bits of rock and dust. When they come close to the Earth, they drop into its atmosphere and burn up as they fall through the air, leaving a streak of light in the night sky. They are called shooting stars.
Sometimes, a meteor is big enough to pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and reach its surface. These meteors are known as meteorites.
As a comet travels around the Sun, it leaves bits of rock and dust behind it. Every now and then, Earth passes through the orbit of a comet. The bits of rock and dust burn in its atmosphere, creating what we call a meteor shower.
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