Between Mars and Jupiter, we can find a large number of smaller rocks orbiting the Sun. The largest of these rocks are known as asteroids, whereas the smallest are called meteoroids. 

If a meteoroid travels to Earth and enters the planet's atmosphere, the air's friction will make it heat up and burn into a crisp. When this happens, the meteoroid can be seen in the form of a meteor or a shooting star. If the meteoroid is so large that it reaches the surface of the planet, it is considered a meteorite.

When a meteorite or asteroid hits the planet's surface, the resulting impact is extremely strong. These impacts have created the craters we can see in different parts of the world today. It is also thought that an asteroid that hit the Earth over 60 million years ago was behind the extinction of the dinosaurs.