Comets, Asteroids, Meteoroids Comets – collection of ice, dust, and small rocky particles whose orbits are usually very long, narrow ellipses Three parts Coma – clouds of gas and dust – fuzzy outer layer Nucleus – solid inner core Tail – two parts Gas dust

Kuiper Belt – doughnut shaped region beyond Neptune Oort Cloud – spherical region of comets that surrounds our solar system past the Kuiper Belt Asteroids – small, rocky objects that revolve around the sun Asteroid Belt – between Mars and Jupiter

Meteoroid – chunk of rock or dust in space that comes from comets or asteroids Meteor – when a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up Meteorite – when a meteor hits Earth’s surface Meteoroids Three terms based on where the object is in the solar system