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Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids Explained

This document discusses comets, meteors, and asteroids found in the Solar System. It defines each one and provides distinguishing characteristics: comets are dirty snowballs that develop tails as they near the sun due to melting and vaporization, meteoroids are pieces of comets or other space rocks, meteors are meteoroids that burn up in Earth's atmosphere, and asteroids are rocky objects smaller than planets and located mainly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

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318 views21 pages

Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids Explained

This document discusses comets, meteors, and asteroids found in the Solar System. It defines each one and provides distinguishing characteristics: comets are dirty snowballs that develop tails as they near the sun due to melting and vaporization, meteoroids are pieces of comets or other space rocks, meteors are meteoroids that burn up in Earth's atmosphere, and asteroids are rocky objects smaller than planets and located mainly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Uploaded by

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Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Other than the sun,

planets, and moon, what


other objects are found in
the Solar System?

In this lesson, we are


going to be comparing
comets, meteors, and
asteroids which are found
in the Solar System.

Essential Question:
What is the difference between
a comet, meteor,
and asteroid?
Standard S6E1f. Describe the characteristics
of comets, asteroids, and meteors.

Comets
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/Comets.html

Comets
Comets are composed
of dust and rock mixed
with frozen water,
methane, and ammonia
Comets are considered
to be like a large, dirty
snowball

Comets
Comets travel around the
sun in elliptical orbits
http://
www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualiza
tions/es2706/es2706page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

Comets
When a comet nears the sun, some of it
melts and forms a long tail (gases in the
comet are vaporized by the sun)
When a comet moves farther away from
the sun, the tail disappears
http://www.windows2universe.org/comets/comet_model_interactive.html
http://www.solarsystemscope.com/ison/
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/comets/lesson/make_nf.html

After a comet has passed close to


the Sun many times, it breaks
apart. The small pieces from the
comet spread out.
These pieces of dust and rock,
along with those coming from other
sources, are called Meteoroids.

You may have noticed that in the


last slide we used the term
Meteoroids to describe objects in
the sky, but your essential question
and the standard say Meteor.

Whats the difference?

Meteoroid, Meteor,
Meteorite?
The difference is just based on
where the rock is located when
you are describing it.

Meteoroid is a space rock


that is still in space

Meteor is a meteoroid
that burns up in the
earths atmosphere
(Shooting Star)
Meteorite is a
meteoroid that hits
the earths surface

A Meteor is considered harmless


even though it can be viewed
from earth at times.

Distributed Summarizing
On your notes sheet, explain the
difference between a comet,
meteoroid, and meteor.
When instructed, turn to an
elbow partner and share
your answer.

Asteroids

Asteroid
A piece of rock similar to the
material formed into planets.
An Asteroid is smaller than a
planet but larger than a
meteoroid

Asteroid
Most asteroids are located in an
area between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter called the Asteroid Belt.
Why are they located there?
The gravity of Jupiter might have
kept a planet from forming in the
area

Comet, Meteor or
Asteroid?
Explain how you know.

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