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What's the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?

01:52 PM PST on Tuesday, February 19, 2008

By KGW Staff

Q&A:

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What's the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor and a meteorite?

A meteoroid is a rock that's moving in space. When it enters the earth's atmosphere, a bright streak appears.

That bright streak is a meteor. If the meteor, or space rock, burns up, it remains just that, a meteor.

If it hits the earth's surface, it is a meteorite.

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