These meteoroids are lumps of rock that are orbiting the Sun just like the Earth is. Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through a group of meteoroids. Comets such as Hale-Bopp are made of ice and dust, left over from the beginning of our solar system. Sometimes the pull from a star changes the orbit of the chunks, sending them near the sun. They begin to evaporate, and pieces of gas and dust fall off and form the tail.
Meteoroids often come from asteroids that have broken up into smaller pieces.
Most meteoroids don't survive to be meteorites because they burn up as they pass through the Earth's upper atmosphere. All Rights Reserved.