Name___________________________________ Date_________________________________ Mr. Jones
Comets, asteroids, and meteoroids
Asteroids
Asteroids are made of rocky and/or iron-nickel material
Most are found in an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Most are pitted with impact craters and dust left from collisions with other objects in the solar system.
Asteroids are MUCH larger then meteoroids
It is believed by many scientists and researchers that an asteroid impact was the cause behind the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago.
Meteoroids
A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system.
They range in size from dust to around 10 meters in diameter (larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids).
A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor.
If you’ve ever looked up at the sky at night and seen a streak of light or ‘shooting star’ what you are actually seeing is a meteor.
A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’s surface is known as a meteorite.
The Earth’s atmosphere experiences millions of meteors every day.
Comet
Comets are made of ice, dust and rocky debris carried from the early formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago.
Comets have three parts: the nucleus, the coma and the tails.
Comets are believed to be in long elliptical orbits that take them from beyond the orbit of Uranus to around the sun.
These objects are found in the Kuiper Belt between Uranus and Neptune and the Oort Cloud from way out beyond Pluto.
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