Curious Kids: what stops meteors hitting Earth and hurting people?

By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology

How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people?

–Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales

Alright, let’s embark on a meteor adventure! Meteors can sound scary but I promise you they aren’t. Meteors are just cosmic rocks falling into Earth’s atmosphere from outer space. Now, these aren’t any old boring rocks. We’re talking about pieces of asteroids, comets and even fragments from other planets crashing into Earth.

There are also certain times of the year when we experience something called a meteor shower. Imagine…

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