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What is a meteor Meteorites are bits of the solar system that have fallen to the Earth. Most come from asteroids, including few are believed to have come specifically from 4 Vesta; a few probably come from comets. A small number of meteorites have been shown to be of Lunar (16 finds) or Martian (16) origin A meteor is a bright streak of light in the sky (a "shooting star" or a "falling star") produced by the entry …

…Siberia. Extraterrestrial objects that hit the ground, their speed roughly half what it was upon entry, blast out craters 12 to 20 times their size. Craters on Earth form much as they would on the moon or any rocky planet. Smaller objects create simple, bowl-shaped craters. Larger impacts cause a rebound that creates a central peak; slipping along the rim forms terraces. The largest impacts form basins in which multiple rebounds form several inner peaks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**