human
Explain the difference between a meteor and a comet.
assistant
The difference between a meteor and a comet is that a meteor is what we observe when particles of dust and ice, ranging in size from dust to as large as a pea, burn up as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere. This results in the bright streaks we call shooting stars or falling stars. A comet is much larger, made up of dust, ice, and frozen gasses, and most originate in a vast shell-shaped cloud around the outermost fringes of our solar system known as the Oort Cloud. Comets can become visible when their orbits bring them close to the Sun and the sunlight causes a cloud of dust and gasses to form around them resulting in a fuzzy-looking object with a visible tail.