What is the difference between a meteor, an asteroid, and a comet?

Meteors, asteroids, and comets are all space rocks, but they act differently. Think of asteroids like big boulders floating in the dark, they're mostly found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Comets are more like icy snowballs that travel far out in space, and when they get close to the Sun, they start glowing and leaving a bright trail behind. Meteors are just little pieces of asteroids or comets that fall through Earth's atmosphere, we see them as shooting stars!

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  1. Asteroids are like big rocks floating between Mars and Jupiter.
  2. Comets glow when they get close to the Sun.
  3. Meteors are little bits of space rocks we see as shooting stars.

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