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Meteors are nothing more than a piece of space debris, and are commonly recognized as shooting stars. A meteor is not visible to us until it breaks through Earth's atmosphere. This is the point where it becomes ignited, resulting in a characteristic bright tail. Very few meteors will survive all the way to Earth's surface after coming through our atmosphere. Many burn up almost immediately.

The most dramatically visible form of a meteor is that of a fireball. These are quite rare, but impressive!

Most meteors are small fragments that have broken off from asteroids. Larger pieces that make it all the way to the earth's surface provide scientists with very valuable information about what is out there in our solar system. For example, by determining the mineral content of meteors, astronomers and geophysicists have classified meteors into 5 main categories:

1. Achondrite
2. Carbonaceous chondrite
3. Chondrite
4. Stony iron
5. Iron

It is surprising to some to learn that most meteors are no larger than a grain of sand. Many of these are unnoticed. Scientists estimate that nearly 4 billion of these pieces of space dirt fall to earth on a regular basis. Their mass is so small however, that they do no harm. The Earth has so much mass that it would take something far more significant than a few tons of space debris to make any dramatic impact.

Learn more about this author, Lauren Beyenhof.
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