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I am a non Muslin from the United States trying to understand some things about Islam.
I am given to understand that there is no central authority like there is in the Roman Catholic Church and that there are many different type of Muslim communities. Two of the biggest groups are Shiites and Sunni. What are they what makes them different?

There are many, many sects in Islam - over 100 (at least). It's analogous to the numbers of churches in Christianity.

The sects can be broadly divided into Sunni and Shia sects (think of Catholic vs Protestant).

The main difference between Shia and Sunni is over the successorship of the Prophet - Shia believe that the first true leader (or Khalifa/Caliph) should have been Ali. Ali was not the first Khalifa, but the 4th. Shia believe he was the legitimate heir, whilst Sunnis believe he was a pious leader who gave allegiance to the first 3 Khalifas (Abu Bakr, Umar, and Omar).

Within Shia there are two broad schools - one is the 12'er Shia (those in power in Iran) who believe there were 11 successors to Ali - hereditary leaders. Then there are the 'Ishmaeli' Shia - whose leader is the Agha Khan - who believe that the leadership should have passed to Imam Ishmael (and they are an offshoot of the 12'er Shia). The Ishmaelis would therefore argue they have a leader - the Agha Khan. The 12'ers believe that the 12th Imam is in 'occultation' - is invisible, but still gives inspiration to Imams today - so the head Imam in Iran, for example, is generally considered to be the worldwide Shia leader and generally thought to be infallible.

Sunnis are broken down into many different sects, but broadly they have the same core theological beliefs. However, under Sunni theology there are four 'schools of jurisprudence' which the sects tend to follow - Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki and Hanbali, named after 4 different scholars of Islam who gave their interpretations of the 'sunnah' or practice of the Prophet.

Broadly, Shia differ from Sunnis on the following:
1. Shia believe in hereditary leadership
2. Shia believe the Imams (leader) is infallible
3. 12'er shia believe that the 12th Imam is still alive but in an invisible state, and Imams receive inspiration from him

Shia and Sunni Muslims though, have the same core beliefs - they have the same 5 'pillars of Islam' - i.e. declare that there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet; pray 5 times a day; fast during ramadhan, pay alms; perform pilgrimage - and same articles of faith (belief in angels, after life etc). All Muslims believe the Quran is the literal word of God (as the Quran itself declares) and that Muhammad, pbuh, was the Messenger of God who came to teach how to live the Quran's teachings.

Wiki has got a reasonably good coverage of these aspects - but I hope that the brief overview above is useful to you.

Happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

Cheers,
Shafique