Please make a T-Chart about comets, asteroids, and meteorites.

SMALL BODIES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Orbit of these smaller bodies All orbits are ellipses or elliptical… or like a squashed circle. Location to the sun Perihelion: orbit is closest to the sun Aphelion: orbit is farthest from the sun

3 TYPES OF BODIES Comets Asteroids Meteoroids

Comets a.k.a. “dirty snowballs” Body of ice, rock, and cosmic dust Form in outer, colder parts of the solar system 3 Parts of the comet Nucleus: solid center Dust tail: blown away from the sun Ion tail: charged particles blown away from the sun

ASTEROIDS 1) rocky, irregular shaped bodies that orbit the sun Can be a few meters to 900 km in diameter Located in the asteroid belt….between Mars and Jupiter

Meteoroids, Meteorites, Meteor Meteoroid: small, rocky body orbiting the sun Meteorite: a meteoroid that has struck the Earth’s surface Meteor: a meteroid that burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere can cause meteor showers

Impact Objects smaller than 10 meters tend to burn up in the atmosphere Moon has no atmosphere so is loaded with craters A major impact could cause a global catastrophe and possibly has before

Rotation vs. Revolution Rotation: time spent for a planet or moon to spin around one time. Ours…24 hours 1) Revolution: length of complete orbit around the sun Not to be confused with a war Ours…365 days