Name __________________________ Other Objects in the Solar System

Mr. Magnuson Astronomy Unit

Asteroid Belt

 Located between ____________________ and

________________________.

 Theory of its existence:

 Object size range:

 Consequence of the Asteroid Belt (on Earth):

Comets

 What is a comet?

 What are the parts of a comet?

 How does the tail of a comet develop?

 When are comets visible? And why?

Name __________________________ Other Objects in the Solar System
Mr. Magnuson Astronomy Unit

Parts of a Comet

 _________________________________: The nucleus is the frozen center of a

comet's head. It is composed of ____________, ______________, and ______________.
The nucleus contains most of the comet's ________________ but is very small.

 _________________________________: The coma is the roughly spherical blob

of _________________ that surrounds the nucleus of a comet; it is about a million km
across. The coma is comprised of _________________, carbon dioxide gas, ammonia,
dust, and neutral gases that have _____________________ from the solid nucleus. The
coma and the nucleus form the head of a comet.

 ________________________________: A tail of charged gases (ions) always

faces _________________________ from the sun because the _____________________
(ions streaming from the sun at high velocities) pushes it away (it is also called the
plasma tail).

 When the comet is approaching the Sun,

_____________________________________: when the comet is leaving of the Sun,
__________________________________. The tail _______________________ as the
comet moves far from the Sun. The ion tail can be well over 100 million km long.

 ________________________________: The dust tail is a long, wide tail

composed of microscopic dust particles. This tail __________________________
slightly due to the comet's motion. The tail fades
_____________________________________________.
Name __________________________ Other Objects in the Solar System
Mr. Magnuson Astronomy Unit
 ________________________________: Hydrogen gas surrounds the coma of the
comet and trails along for millions of miles (it is usually between the ion tail and the dust
tail).
Draw the Comet’s tail as it approaches the sun.

Observe the clip. What happened to the comet’s tail?

Describe what happens to Halley’s Comet as it approaches the sun.

METEOROID
 What is a meteoroid?

 Where do most meteoroids come from?

METEOR

 What is a meteor?

 What are meteors sometimes called?

METEORITE

 What is a meteorite?

 What happens to most meteorites?

 Draw the lifecycle of a meteoroid

Why do meteor showers occur?

Name __________________________ Other Objects in the Solar System
Mr. Magnuson Astronomy Unit