Meteoroids are small rocky bodies that become meteors when they enter an atmosphere.

The longer version

Friction with atmospheric gas is what makes a meteor visible. A meteoroid entering at many kilometers per second compresses the air ahead of it, heating both the air and its own surface until the material glows and vaporizes. Most burn up completely tens of kilometers above the ground. Entry speeds are far higher than a rifle bullet.

The bright streak is glowing air and vaporized rock, not the object itself touching anything. Larger bodies survive the descent and land as meteorites. Spacecraft and orbiting hardware also experience drag from sparse gas at high altitude, which slowly lowers their orbits.

Where this entry sits

The night sky looks calm, yet almost everything up there is moving, burning, or slowly changing. These facts cover planets, stars, the Moon, gravity, black holes, comets, and the story of how people began exploring beyond Earth. The full list sits on the Space and Sky page, where every entry is listed in order.