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Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors There are millions of small objects (smaller than planets and most moons) in space that orbit the sun like other orbs in our galaxy. Just like planets, these objects are held in orbit by gravity and inertia Comet- “dirty snowball” or chunk of ice and dust that orbits the sun in a long, elliptical pattern. - Comets are roughly about the size of a mountain on Earth - When they get close enough to the sun, the sunlight turns the ice into gas and dust. (Which is the light you see in the sky) - Since their orbits are so elliptical, very few comets pass near Earth - Most come from an area in our solar system known as the Oort Cloud Asteroid- oddly shaped space objects revolving around the sun that are too small and too numerous (over 1 million) to be considered planets. - nearly all of the asteroids in our solar system, orbit the sun in an area between Mars and Jupiter known as the asteroid belt The largest known asteroid, Ceres, is classified as a dwarf planet Meteors- when a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, friction burns the chunk up, and forms a streak of light in the sky. - - A meteoroid is a chunk of rock or dust in space that usually breaks apart from a comet or asteroid. Meteor showers happen nearly all the time-do we always see them? Earth’s atmosphere rotates through meteoroids (space debris) If the meteor doesn’t completely burn up, than a meteorite-chunk not burned up-would hit the Earth’s surface.