A meteor is the visible phenomenon that occurs when a meteoroid — a small rocky or metallic body in space — enters the Earth's atmosphere and travels at high speed. As the meteoroid descends, it encounters the thicker layers of the atmosphere, which causes it to heat up due to friction with the air. This extreme heat causes the meteoroid to incandesce and produce a bright streak of light in the sky, known as a "shooting star" or meteor.
If the meteoroid is large enough to survive its passage through the atmosphere and reach the Earth's surface, it is then referred to as a meteorite. Most meteoroids, however, are quite small and burn up completely in the atmosphere before reaching the ground.
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