Asteroid

Asteroids are pieces of rock, metal and frozen gases left over from when the planets in our Solar System formed. Most of the asteroids orbit around the Sun between Mars and Jupiter in a large loop, called the Asteroid Belt.

Occasionally an asteroid will stray away from this path and head towards the Sun. This can bring it close to Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Astronomers monitor "Near Earth Asteroids" to check whether any of them will come very close to Earth.

Shooting stars, or meteors, are made from small pieces of asteroids which have broken off. They burn when they hit Earth's atmosphere giving them their distinctive glow. A small number of the largest meteors do not burn up and land on Earth, sometimes forming a crater. After they have collided with Earth they are called meteorites.