What is the difference between a meteor, a fireball, and a bolide?
What we see here on Earth, mostly at night, is a streak of light that lasts about a half a second on the average. Generally speaking, the larger the material that enters the Earth’s atmosphere the brighter the meteor. Brighter meteors will occasionally leave a smoke trail behind in their path lasting a few seconds; trails produced by very bright meteors, referred to as fireballs, may last minutes. Fireballs that appear to break up or produce sound are called bolides, from the Greek word bolis meaning missile.
