Download Solar System - Doral Academy Preparatory

Smaller Objects in
the Solar System
Scientists classify small objects in the Solar
System by size, shape, composition and orbits.
Types of Small Objects in the Solar System
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Dwarf planet
Comet
Asteroid
Meteoroids
Dwarf Planets
 orbit the Sun
 have enough gravity to pull
themselves into spheres
BUT
 have other objects in the path
of their orbit.
Comets
Clumps of ice, dust and small rocky particles
whose orbits can be very long, narrow ellipses.
Most comets originate in the Oort Cloud!
The Oort Cloud
surrounds the entire
Solar System.
It extends to the
limits of the Sun’s
gravity… 5,000 to
100,000 AU !!
(Remember, the
distance from the Sun
to Pluto is 40 AU)
A Comet’s Orbit
Asteroids
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•
•
•
•
Irregular shaped (not spheres)
Rocky
Orbit the Sun
Too small to be planets
Believed to be leftover pieces from the birth
of the Solar System that never merged into
planets.
The asteroid
belt is
between the
orbits of
MARS
and
JUPITER
Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites
Shooting Star
Song
Meteors
A meteoroid that has
entered Earth’s
atmosphere.
Meteoroids
Chunks of rock or
dust smaller than
asteroids.
 Friction with the air
creates heat and
light.
 They usually burn up
in mesosphere.
* sometimes called a
shooting star
Meteorites
Larger meteors that
do not burn in the
atmosphere and hit
the surface of the
Earth.
Dwarf planet
Asteroid
Meteoroid
Comet
Asteroids and meteoroids because they are made
of similar materials.