Meteoroid vs. Asteroid

Meteoroidnoun

(astronomy) A relatively small (sand- to boulder-sized) fragment of debris in a star system that produces a meteor when it hits the atmosphere

Meteoroidnoun

A small body moving through space, or revolving about the sun, which on entering the earth's atmosphere would be deflagrated and appear as a meteor.

Meteoroidnoun

(astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere

Meteoroid

A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids, and range in size from small grains to one-meter-wide objects.

Asteroidnoun

(zoology) Any member of the taxonomic class Asteroidea; a starfish

Asteroidnoun

(astronomy) A naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and is not a comet, that orbits a star

Asteroidnoun

(astronomy) In the Solar system, such a body that orbits within the orbit of Jupiter

Asteroidnoun

A starlike body; esp. one of the numerous small planets whose orbits lie between those of Mars and Jupiter; - called also planetoids and minor planets.

Asteroidnoun

any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter)

Asteroidadjective

shaped like a star

Asteroid

An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Historically, these terms have been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not resolve into a disc in a telescope and was not observed to have characteristics of an active comet such as a tail.