What do astronomers call small rocky bodies that collide with the Earth's surface?
The answer is: meteorites
Astronomers call small rocky bodies that collide with the Earth’s surface “meteorites.” These objects are a small rocky or metallic body that enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up before colliding with the Earth's surface, and appears as a bright line in the sky. If the rocky body does not burn, it can cause rock explosions and major destruction, as happened in the Chelyabinsk incident in Russia in 2013. Astronomy uses mathematics, physics and chemistry to explain the origin and development of these phenomena, and studying them is important for understanding the formation of planets and celestial bodies and their impact on Life on Earth.
