Talk:Asteroid

Asteroids and meteors

Should we merge asteroid and meteor, or keep trying to make the distinction between huge asteroids and (smaller) meteoroids?

• An asteroid typically has a nearly circular orbit and is large enough to be observed in a telescope from earth
• Meteoroids are much smaller and are typically only noticed when they enter the earth's atmosphere, becoming meteors.
  1. Most of these burn up due to air friction, long before reaching the surface
  2. Some explode in mid-air
  3. Some actually reach the Earth (meteorites); they make a crater if they hit land.

--Ed Poor ^Talk 08:53, 19 February 2013 (EST)