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Small Bodies in our Solar System Comets A small body of ice, rock and cosmic dust “Dirty Snowball” These are samples (left over) from the beginning solar system formation Comet Tails Dust Tail: when comet gets close enough to Sun Ion Tail: electrically charged particles Nucleus: center of comet Comet Orbits Ellipse shape orbit Tail always points away from Sun because of Solar winds Comet Origin Comets come from the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt Asteroids Small, rocky bodies that revolve around the Sun Vary in size and shape Asteroid Belt: Between Mars and Jupiter Meteoroids and Meteorites Meteoroid: Similar to asteroids but smaller If it enters our atmosphere and strikes the ground it is called a Meteorite, it looks like a streak or shooting star in the sky Meteor Showers Meteor Showers: certain times of year when Earth passes through dusty debris and large amount of meteors are in sight Types of Meteorites Stony Metallic Stony-Iron Impacts The surface of our Moon has more impact craters because the Moon has no atmosphere to these objects slow down or “burn them” Atmosphere acts as a shield on Earth Earth craters not as visible because of weathering, erosion and tectonic activity Large objects strike Earth every few thousand years Earth Craters This is the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. The diameter is 1.2 kilometers, and it is 49,000 years old Lunar Craters Torino Scale A system that allows scientists to rate the hazard level of an object moving toward Earth