Debris from colliding asteroids, dust trailing from comets and material ejected from impact craters on Mars and the Moon regularly bombards our planet. Depending on where an object is in its journey determines what we call it. Meteoroids are small rocky objects traveling through interplanetary space. Meteors are bright streaks of light seen briefly in the sky. Fireballs are especially bright meteors.
Bolides are fireballs that explode at the end of their paths.
Meteorites are meteoroids that have landed on the Earth. Air friction raises its surface temperature to as much as 3000 F causing the surface to begin to melt and vaporize. Light is produced by the glow of the vaporizing meteoroid and the glow of the heated atmosphere immediately surrounding it. The vaporization process usually lasts only a few seconds and only takes place on the surface of the meteoroid. Any portion of the meteoroid that survives to strike the earth as a meteorite will seldom feel even warm to the touch.