The difference between a comet and a meteor

The difference between a comet and a meteor is:

1, the concept is different: a comet is a celestial body orbiting the sun when it enters the solar system, and its brightness and shape will change with the distance from the sun. Meteor refers to a meteoroid (usually including cosmic dust particles and solid blocks) running in interstellar space, which is attracted by the earth due to the perturbation of the earth's gravity, and then enters the earth's atmosphere and burns with the atmosphere.

2, the appearance is different: the comet is decomposed into a comet head and a comet tail under the action of solar radiation, which looks like a broom. There are many kinds of meteors. Different types of meteors have different shapes, unlike comets like brooms.

3. Different compositions: Comet substances are mainly composed of water, ammonia, methane, cyanide, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The comet nucleus is composed of water, carbon dioxide (dry ice), ammonia and dust particles, and it is a "dirty snowball". The most abundant elements in meteors are iron, nickel, sulfur, silicon, cobalt, calcium, oxygen and so on, all of which are the most primitive things on earth.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-comet

Baidu encyclopedia-meteor