Flying rocks

There are billions of rocks in the Milky way that never became big enough to be planets. They orbit the Sun and sometimes crash into each other and the planets. They create spectacular light shows in the sky and could devastate whole planets.

Asteroids

Asteroids are small, rocky bodies that orbit the Sun. Most of them are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They are left-overs from the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. The main asteroid belt contains tens of thousands of asteroids. The first asteroid to be discovered was Ceres, in 1801.

Meteorites

Meteorites are small chunks of rock that have come form space and landed on Earth's surface. Most of them are pieces that have broken off asteroids. A few have come from the Moon and Mars.

Meteor Showers

Meteor Showers occur at the same time each year, when Earth passes through trails of dust left by passing comets. Very rarely, a shower may produce thousands of shooting stars that light up the sky.

Comets

Comets orbit the Sun in the outer solar system and sometimes appear in our skies. They have two tails - of gas and dust - and a solid nucleus made of ice.