Notes 14-5 Comets, Asteroids, Meteors

Comets Loose collection of ice, dust, and small rocky particles whose orbits are usually very long, narrow ellipses Like a “dirty snowball” that’s as large as a mountain!

Structure of a Comet The main parts of a comet are the nucleus, the coma, and the tail. The nucleus is deep within the coma. Most comets have two tails—a bluish gas tail and a white dust tail.

Comet Orbits Most comets revolve around the sun in very long, narrow orbits. Gas and dust tails form as the comet approaches the sun.

Where do comets come from? The Kuiper belt or the Oort cloud

Asteroids Too small and too numerous to be considered planets Most are found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter Left over pieces in early solar system that never came together to form planets

The Asteroid Belt

Meteors Meteoroid- chunk of rock or dust in space that come from comets or asteroids, caused craters on moon Meteor- streak of light in sky created due to friction with air if meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere (shooting star) Meteorite- meteoroids that strike Earth’s surface

Meteor Shower