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Meteors and comets actually have very little in common. Comets do fly through space, while meteors USED TO be flying through space. Both glow.

Meteors are the momentary flare of a space rock (more often a space pebble or space grain of sand) as it impacts the Earth's atmosphere and is incinerated by the enormous heat of the shock wave. Comets glow because the Sun's light and light-pressure vaporize the frozen gasses of the comet's nucleus, and light up the gas and dust.

Meteors are typically the size of a grain of sand, or a grain of dust; big ones may be the size of a grain of rice. Thousands of meteors like this strike the Earth each hour. Once a week or so, space rocks the size of a softball or a basket ball strike the Earth, and some of these actually make it through the atmosphere and hit the ground.

Comets are far larger, typically a few miles or more in diameter. They are mostly frozen gas, and the ice binds a few rocks and a lot of dust. Astronomers have compared them to "dirty snowballs".

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15y ago

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