[luk_077]

What exactly is the difference between a commet, an asteroid, and a meteor?

[Clough]

If you know the definitions, you will be able to figure out the differences.

Definition of a comet, from http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=comet (astronomy) a relatively small extraterrestrial body consisting of a frozen mass that travels around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit.

Definition of an asteroid, from http://www.ncsu.edu/project/agronaut...1_Glossary.doc a rocky object in space that can be anywhere from a few feet wide to several miles wide. Most asteroids in our solar system are part of a belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Definition of a meteor, from http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=meteor
Meteoroid, meteor (astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere)
Meteor, shooting star (a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode)

[encyclopedia]

Comet:
A comet is a huge mass of ICE and DUST in Solar system which go round the SUN in a hyperbolic path. Not all Comets are periodic. Some are. Like Halley's comet which goes round the sun once in 75 years. The speed of the comet increases as it approaches the sun. The ice starts melting and it becomes brighter as it approaches the SUN. It consists of a Nucleus and a Tail. Nucleus normally contains ICE, minerals, DUST and some gases. The tail is predominantly dust and gases. All these materials are held together by the internal gravity of the comet.

ASTEROID:
An ideal analogy for an asteroid would be "Chunks of planets". The Asteroids are found as a small trail between the planets MARS and JUPITER. There are an estimated 50,000 asteroinds. Consider it to be broken pieces of a Planet. The largest asteroid has a surface area of about 44,000 sq Km.
More details on Asteroids and
HERE

Meteors:
They can be considered as Large stones floating in the space. Sometimes, these stones enter the Earth's atmosphere and they burn due to aerial friction. This is what you see as "Shooting Stars". Most of the meteors burn in the atmosphere.

[Capuchin]

Meteors:
They can be considered as Large stones floating in the space. Sometimes, these stones enter the Earth's atmosphere and they burn due to aerial friction. This is what you see as "Shooting Stars". Most of the meteors burn in the atmosphere.

You seem to be confusing meteors and meteoroids here.

Meteoroids are small "sand-to-boulder" sized particles floating in space (small asteroids, essentially).

Meteors are the visible streak when an asteroid or meteoroid enters our atmosphere and burns up.

ASTEROID:
An ideal analogy for an asteroid would be "Chunks of planets".

Most of them were never part of planets, but probably remnants of the protoplanetary disk.