What is the difference between a meteor and an asteroid?

An asteroid is a rocky object that orbits the Sun, typically found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. They range in size from small boulders to hundreds of kilometers across. A meteor is the streak of light you see in the sky when a piece of rock or debris enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up due to friction, commonly called a shooting star. The actual rock before it hits the atmosphere is called a meteoroid, and if any part of it survives and lands on Earth, it becomes a meteorite. So the key distinction is that asteroids are space-orbiting bodies, while meteors are the atmospheric light phenomena caused by smaller debris burning up.