Small Bodies Asteroids, Meteoroids and Comets What are they? Where are they? Why do we study them? http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/nea_19970627_mos.html

Asteroids, Meteroids and Comets What are they? Objects ranging from 1 km to almost 1000km Made of rock and other left-over space material (primarily carbon, iron and silicates. Observable orbits, generally around the sun.

Several types of asteroids: C-type: Carbon S-type: Silicate M-type: Metal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:4_Vesta_1_Ceres_Moon_at_20_km_per_px.png Some asteroids are known to have other asteroids orbiting them. Mars’ moons are suspected to be asteroids pulled out of the Sun’s orbit.

Meteoroids: Considered to be like asteroids in composition, but smaller. Usually less than 10 km. Meteoroids are asteroids heading toward Earth. Once meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere, the are called meteors. Meteors that do not burn up in the atmosphere (which most do) are then called Meteorites.

Although most meteors are burned-up by the Earth’s atmosphere, there is plenty of evidence on the Earth to suggest major meteorite impact throughout history.

Asteroids and Meteoroids Where are they? The asteroid belt is located between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter There are almost 750,000 asteroids in this area, with miliions of smaller bodies. (The NASA website suggests that over a million asteroids are in this region) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:InnerSolarSystem-en.png

Comets Small bodies made of two parts: Nucleus Comma (a.k.a Tail) Generally comets orbit the Sun, but their orbit is also influenced by the comma. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/comets/comets.html

The nucleus are made of ice and dust particles The commas are made of gases, which are more reactive the closer the closer they get to the Sun. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/comets/comets.html Although there is a ton of superstitious sentiment surrounding the presence of comets, only one every decade can be seen from Earth by the naked eye.

Asteroids, Meteoroids and Comets Why do we study them? Knowing more about these bodies of our solar system help us understand more about Earth. The more we know about our Solar System, the better we questions we can answer about what we are seeing when we look at the sky.

Awesome Resources: Comets video Asteroids video Lesson Plans General information Further Exploration