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ASTEROIDS, METEORITES, AND COMETS Information for this PowerPoint obtained from: • NSTA Online Module: Solar System: Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites •NASA •ESA •Windows2Universe.org This is a meteorite that had been broken off of Mars from a large impact meteorite. It spent millions of years in space before landing in Antarctica. Meteor Showers and Comets Common Characteristics of Comets, Meteoroids, and Asteroids Most are “leftovers” from the formation of the Solar System. Most didn’t form into planets themselves, nor were they part of the planets that did form. Each contains rocky material. Differences in Comets, Meteoroids, and Asteroids Comets have a great amount of icy material covering them because they are found at the far edge of the Solar System. Meteoroids are very small rocky bodies that are found mostly near the orbits of planets. In fact, the meteor showers that we observe from Earth’s surface occur as Earth passes through a large concentration of them. Asteroids contain little icy material and are much larger than comets. Most are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids Was there a missing planet between Mars and Jupiter? The space between Mars and Jupiter where all of the asteroids are is called the ASTEROID BELT. Asteroid Belt Location A Closer Look At Asteroids Eros, the second largest near- Earth asteroid is 33 km long and 13 km wide. Asteroid Belt Motion Asteroids are objects composed of a combination of metallic and rocky material. One of their defining characteristics is that they are much smaller than planets. Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater) Winslow, Arizona Meteors, Meteorites, Meteoroids The name depends on the location. Meteoroid-small bits of debris from an asteroid or comet that orbit the Sun. Meteor-When a meteoroid enters the atmosphere of a planet at high speed and friction causes it to burn up. Meteorite-If the meteoroid does not burn up completely in the atmosphere and collides with the surface. It is the piece that is left. Comet Debris-Meteor Shower Simulation A Closer Look at Comets The Mawangdui silk, a 300 B.C. Chinese text of comet observations. Comet Composition and Size Comets are basically dirty snowballs! Comet Kohoutek •Rocky Core •Gases condense on the surface and freeze Comet Hale-Bopp The Life of a Comet See an animation of the life of a comet. The Kuiper Belt The outer edge of our Solar System is not empty. There are many, many huge spheres of ice and rock out near Pluto's orbit. Astronomers call this huge group of planetoids "Kuiper Belt Objects", or "KBOs" for short. The Kuiper Belt is a bit like the asteroid belt, but much farther from the Sun. See how they are out past Neptune and Pluto? What might you predict about the formation of asteroids, meteorites, and comets? Some of them could be the oldest bodies in the Solar System. Asteroids, comets, and meteorites did not form around the same time. They contain material that formed from the planets. They formed at the same time as the planets. Flight of a Comet EPOXI mission has successfully flown by comet Hartley 2. Mercury's Caloris Basin taken by Mariner 10 in 1974. Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Densely cratered surface of Mercury as seen by Mariner 10 in 1974. Image courtesy: NASA/JPLCaltech. Impact craters near Mars' Promethei Terra region (top) and the Acheron Fossae region (bottom). Images courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Heavily cratered surface of Mars' polar region. Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech. The Mare Oriental region of the Earth's Moon shows several impact craters. Image courtesy: NASA. The heavily cratered South Pole of the Moon as seen from the Clementine spacecraft. Image courtesy: NASA. What could’ve created these craters? Volcanic Processes Comets Meteoroids Asteroids Meteoroid Hitting the Moon Click for Video Collisions With Planets Mosaic of images showing the evolution of the ShoemakerLevy 9 G (a comet) impact site on Jupiter in 1994. Images not to scale. Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI. Impacting Earth Clearwater Lakes in Quebec, Canada. Created by an asteroid 290 million years ago. Wolf Creek crater in Australia. Created by an asteroid impact approximately 300,000 years ago. Summary Comets are icy bodies composed of rock, dust, and ice. Asteroids are large bodies somewhat similar to planets. Meteoroids are pieces of these larger bodies that have been show to be the oldest bodies in the Solar System. Assess and Wrap-Up Quiz A Meteorite Game