Two interesting aspects of astronomy are comets and meteors - these fast moving solid pieces that zip through space creating falling stars and sometimes crashing into planets. But what exactly are they?

Comets are actually big chunks of rock and ice that revolve around the sun. Comets are distinctive because they have tails which are made up of gasses and caused by radiation from the sun. They travel in orbits and that is why the same comet can be seen every several decades. Halley’s Comet, for example can be seen about every 75 years and it’s appearance has been noted since 240 BC. In 1910, it’s appearance was so celebrated that jewelry was made to commemorate it - these pieces are very collectible today. The last time it was seen was 1986 but it was not as bright as in previous sightings.

Although comets and meteors are sometimes thought of interchangeably, it is the meteors that are actually shooting stars and the comets that stay up in orbit. While meteors appear to also have a tail, this is actually just friction that happens when it enters Earths atmosphere.

Sometimes, you can have a meteorite shower which is actually a stream of meteoroids that were the tail of a comet. You can actually predict when these will happen and any astronomer can take note and be on the lookout for them.

When a meteor strikes Earth (or any planet or moon for that matter) it creates a crater and then dissolves into many, many pieces. Pieces of meteors are actually quite valuable so if you happen to see one grab the pieces!

Comets and meteors actually belong to a triplet system. Typically people interchange asteroids with meteors and comets but these 3 astronomical phenomenon actually do act differently so it would behoove any astronomer to study up on the difference between the 3.