June 30th - Asteroid Day

Today is Asteroid Day. An asteroid is a space rock big enough to go "huh, that's a thing" at, but not big enough where it's something you expect to stick around. A good question about asteroids is their relationship with meteors. The thing is, an asteroid is what it's called when the big rock is in space. A small asteroid is known as a meteoroid, but they start being called the same thing when they enter earth's atmosphere. A meteor is when a space rock, big or small, hits Earth's atmosphere and starts burning up. Meteors are commonly known by the very whimsical name of shooting stars. A meteorite is what's left of the rock when it lands. People will often pay a lot of money for meteorites because it's a surprise from space. A comet is its own thing that keeps showing up. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Fittingly for an astronomical day, June 30th is also the in-universe birthday of Tsukino Usagi, the protagonist of Sailor Moon. It’s also the fourth day in a row where I’ve found it necessary to leave an Editor’s Note. #-streak]