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The Sun
It's common knowledge that the sun affects the Earth by providing daylight and the necessary heat required to support life. But there are other ways the Sun can affect the earth. Solar flares occur when an explosion on the surface of the Sun emits energy out into space. According to Natural News, if a solar flare emitted toward Earth was big enough, it could affect the planet in significant ways. In addition to disrupting the electrical grid, a big enough solar flare could also cause tectonic plates to shift, resulting in earthquakes.
The Moon
The moon affects the Earth in significant ways. The gravitational pull of the moon is responsible for ocean tides, as well as Earth's motion and orbit around the Sun. The moon, Earth's only satellite, has also acted as a protective shield to the planet throughout history, blocking some asteroids, comets and meteoroids from impacting the Earth.
Comets
Comets, like asteroids, are leftover material from when the solar system formed. They are large pieces of ice mixed with dust and rocks. Most comets only affect the Earth in insignificant ways, appearing in our night sky as dazzling shooting stars with spectacular tails as they come close to or pass through the atmosphere. In 1994, the Shoemaker-Levy comet traveling through the solar system made history here on Earth when scientists observed it crashing into Jupiter. It was the one and only time a comet-planet collision has ever been witnessed by humans.
Asteroids
Asteroids indirectly affect the Earth in much the same way as comets. Asteroids aren't icy but are also made of rock and dust. Like comets, they can sometimes be seen whizzing near or through Earth's atmosphere in the night sky. And also like comets, they can have devastating consequences for the Earth if they impact the planet. In fact, some scientists believe an asteroid impact is responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and the onset of the ice age.
Meteoroids
Meteoroids are smaller than asteroids, and are like bits of space junk that may be broken pieces of planets, moons, asteroids or even dust left behind by a trailing comet. Like comets, they affect Earth's night sky by appearing as shooting stars as they enter and burn up in Earth's atmosphere. The resulting trail is known as a meteor. When meteoroids make it to Earth's surface, they are too small to cause global destruction, but do end up in museums and private collections as meteorites.