Comets and Meteors

Comets Large, icy dirt-ball Contains dust, ice, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and more Most comets ~ 16km across

Comets Comets orbit the sun, but have very large orbits The orbits come from a region beyond Pluto, called the ‘Oort Cloud’

Comets Scientists think some comets come from a band of icy objects called the “Kuiper belt”, beyond Neptune’s orbit

Comets Some comets, called ‘sun-grazers’, smash right into the sun or get so close that they break up and evaporate.

Comets When a comet gets closer to the sun, the ice turns into a gas cloud (called a ‘coma’) Solar radiation pushes dust from the sun, forming a dust tail Charged particles convert some of the sun’s gases, forming an ion tail

Tails always point away from the sun.

Comets Comets leave a trail of debris behind them that can lead to meteor showers on Earth. Some famous comets: – Haley’s Comet – Comet Hale-Bopp – Comet Shoemaker-Levy – Comet Holmes

Meteors Meteors (“shooting stars”) are tiny bits of dust and space rocks that fall through the atmosphere. They heat up so much that they become a fiery streak across the night sky.

Meteors Meteor showers happen when Earth passes through a region of space that a comet passed through before During these times, you can see 1-2 shooting stars per minute!

Meteors Most meteors are the size of a grain of sand They burn up completely in the atmosphere

Meteors Upcoming meteor showers: – Geminids, Dec.13 – Dec.14 – Quadrantids, January 3 – Lyrids, April 21 – Eta Aquarids, May 5

Meteors Meteors that are big enough to make it all the way to the ground are called ‘meteorites’

Meteors Finding one is a pretty big deal!