Download Asteroids, Meteoroids and Comets

Asteroids, Meteoroids and
Comets
In:
Other than the Sun, illustrate and
describe celestial bodies in our solar
system.
124(126)
Asteroids
• Orbit the Sun
• Rocky and metallic
objects too small
to be considered
planets
• Known as minor
planets
Asteroids
• The total mass of
all the asteroids
is less than that
of the Moon.
Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites
• Meteor:
• The streak of light
produced as matter in
the solar system falls
into Earth's
atmosphere
• Caused by
atmospheric friction
Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites
(Not a meteoroid, but a meteorite)
• Meteoroid:
• Rocky or metallic
object in orbit
around the Sun
(or another star)
• Too small to be
called an asteroid
or a comet
Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites
• Meteorite:
• a meteoroid that
reaches the
surface of the
Earth without
being completely
vaporized
Meteoroids, Meteors,
Meteorites
• When a meteorite
strikes, it can
cause a crater.
On Earth
On Phobos, a Martian Moon
Comets “Dirty Snowballs”
• Orbit the sun
• oddly shaped
• lumps of ice and
rock, often only a
few miles across
• from as far away
as 100,000 AU
Comets
• As that ball of ice
gets close enough to
the Sun, its heat
begins to melt some
of the ice that
makes up the comet.
• The melted ice
becomes a gaseous
tail
Comets
• The tail ALWAYS
points away from
the sun
Where do comets form?
Where do comets form?
Scale of the Universe
• http://htwins.net/sc
ale2/scale2.swf?bo
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Asteroids, Meteoroids and
Comets
Out: Compare/Contrast:
asteroid/meteoroid
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