Comets Meteors and Asteroids

COMETS,
METEORS
and
ASTEROIDS
EARTH AND SPACE
(SCIENCE 8)
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COMETS
Comets are large objects
made of dust and ice that
orbit the Sun. Best known
for their long, streaming
tails, these ancient objects
are leftovers from the
formation of the solar
system 4.6 billion years ago.
COMETS
• Comets contain ice or icy objects including
dusts, metals, and elements like Sodium
and Argon.
• You can think of a comet as a “dirty
snowball.”
• The name “comet” means “long-haired
star” in Greek.
Where do
comets come
from?
origin
• Comets are mostly found way out in the solar system.
Some exist in a wide disk beyond the orbit of Neptune
called the Kuiper Belt.
• We call these short-period comets. They take less

than 200 years to orbit the Sun.
Origin
• Other comets live in the Oort Cloud, the sphere-
shaped, outer edge of the solar system that is about
50 times farther away from the Sun than the Kuiper
Belt.
• These are called long-period comets because they
take much longer to orbit the Sun.
• The comet with the longest known orbit takes more
than 250,000 years to make just one trip around the
Sun!
What brings comets near
Earth so we can see
them?
What brings comets near Earth so we can
see them?
• The gravity of a planet or star can pull comets from their homes in
the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud. This tug can redirect a comet
toward the Sun. The paths of these redirected comets look like
long, stretched ovals.
• As the comet is pulled faster and faster toward the Sun, it swings
around behind the Sun, then heads back toward where it came
from. Some comets dive right into the Sun, never to be seen
again. When the comet is in the inner solar system, either coming
or going, that's when we may see it in our skies.
What are the parts
of a comet?
Parts of a Comet
Parts of a Comet
At the heart of every comet is a solid, frozen
core called the nucleus. This ball of dust and ice
is usually less than 10 miles (16 kilometers)
across – about the size of a small town. When
comets are out in the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud,
scientists believe that’s pretty much all there is to
them – just frozen nuclei.
Parts of a Comet
• But when a comet gets close to the Sun, it starts
heating up. Eventually, the ice begins to turn to gas.
This can also cause jets of gas to burst out of the
comet, bringing dust with it. The gas and dust create
a huge, fuzzy cloud around the nucleus called the
coma.
• The nucleus and coma (the comet’s head) is the
brightest part of a comet.
Why do comets
have tails?
Why do comets have tails?
• As dust and gases stream away from the nucleus, sunlight and particles
coming from the Sun push them into a bright tail that stretches behind
the comet for millions of miles.
• When astronomers look closely, they find that comets actually have two
separate tails. One looks white and is made of dust. This dust
tail traces a broad, gently curving path behind the comet. The other
tail is bluish and is made up of electrically charged gas
molecules, or ions. The ion tail always points directly away from the
Sun.
Tail of a Comet
A comet has two tails that get

longer the closer it gets to the
Sun. Both tails are always
directed away from the Sun. The
ion tail (blue) always points
directly away from the Sun, while
the dust tail (yellow) points away
from the Sun in a slightly different
direction than the ion tail.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltec
How do we learn about comets?
• People have been interested in comets for thousands
of years. But it wasn't possible to get a good view of a
comet nucleus from Earth since it is shrouded by the
gas and dust of the coma. In recent years, though,
several spacecraft have had the chance to study
comets up close.
• The current number of known comets is: 3,743.
How do we learn about comets?
• NASA’s Stardust mission collected samples from Comet Wild 2
(prounounced like “Vilt two”) and brought them back to Earth. Scientists
found those particles to be rich in hydrocarbons, which are chemicals we
consider the “building blocks” of life.
• Rosetta, a mission of the European Space Agency that had several NASA
instruments onboard, studied Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Rosetta dropped a lander on the nucleus, then orbited the comet for two
years. Rosetta detected building blocks of life on this comet, too. And
images showed Comet 67P to be a rugged object with lots of activity
shaping its surface.
Halley’s Comet
Halley is often called the most famous comet
because it marked the first time astronomers
understood comets could be repeat visitors to our
night skies. Astronomers have now linked the
comet's appearances to observations dating back
more than 2,000 years.
Halley’s Comet
Halley was last seen in
Earth's skies in 1986
and was met in space
by an international fleet
of spacecraft. It will
return in 2061 on its
regular 75 to 76-year
journey around the
Sun.
Characteristics of Comet
Characteristics
Origin Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud
shape varied/irregular
Chemical Composition dust, rock, metals, ice, frozen gases,

ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, and
other organic compounds
orbit highly elliptical
Orbital Period (in years) 75 to 100,000++
Importance to Research provides clues on how liquid water was

formed on Earth
ASTEROIDS
ASTEROIDS
Asteroids are rocky
objects in space
that are too small
and numerous to be
considered real
planets.
ASTEROIDS
• Most asteroids are irregularly shaped,
though a few are nearly spherical, and they
are often pitted or cratered.
• As they revolve around the Sun in
elliptical orbits, the asteroids also
rotate, sometimes quite erratically,
tumbling as they go.
ASTEROIDS
• More than 150 asteroids are known to have a
small companion moon (some have two
moons). There are also binary (double)
asteroids, in which two rocky bodies of roughly
equal size orbit each other, as well as triple
asteroid systems.
• The current known asteroid count is:
1,113,527.
ASTEROIDS
Most asteroids revolve around the

sun between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter. This region of the solar
system is called the asteroid belt.
What is the
composition of an
asteroid?
Composition
• Most asteroids are made of
different kinds of rocks,
but some have clays or
metals, such as nickel
and iron.
• The three broad
composition classes of
asteroids are C-, S-, and
M-types.
Asteroid Classification
• Main Asteroid
Belt
• Trojans
• Near-Earth
Asteroids
Asteroid Classifications
Main Asteroid Belt: The majority of known asteroids
orbit within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter,
generally with not very elongated orbits. The belt is
estimated to contain between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids
larger than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter, and millions of
smaller ones.
Trojans: These asteroids share an orbit with a larger
planet, but do not collide with it because they gather
around two special places in the orbit (called the L4 and
L5 Lagrangian points). There, the gravitational pull from the
Sun and the planet are balanced by a trojan's tendency to
otherwise fly out of orbit. The Jupiter trojans form the most
significant population of trojan asteroids. It is thought that they
are as numerous as the asteroids in the asteroid belt. There are
Mars and Neptune trojans, and NASA announced the discovery
of an Earth trojan in 2011.
Near-Earth Asteroids: These objects have
orbits that pass close by that of Earth.
Asteroids that actually cross Earth's orbital path
are known as Earth-crossers.
In February 2013, Asteroid 2012 DA14 made a closer
approach to Earth as it orbited around the Sun. The
asteroid was just 27,700 km away from the Earth, the
closest that an asteroid has ever been in recent
memory. In December 2012, during the issue of the
doomsday prophecies, Asteroid Toutatis has made a
near approach to Earth but not as close as Asteroid
2012 DA14.
Importance of Asteoirds
The composition of an asteroid provides information to the
chemical compositions of planets in the solar system. Iron and
Nickel are the asteroid's components which are the same metals
that make up the Earth’s core. An element called Iridium was
discovered on oceanic sedimentary layers of Denmark, Italy,
and New Zealand, by father and son namely Luis and Walter
Alvarez. They have discovered the rocks that contains higher
level of iridium compared to the Earth’s crust which is with the
same level of iridium of the asteroid.
Characteristics of Asteroid
Characteristics
Origin Majority in the Main Asteroid Belt
Chemical Composition dust, rock, and metals like silicate, iron,

and nickel including olive and pyroxene
orbit Elliptical but more rounded in the main
asteroid belt
Orbital Period (in years) 1 to 100
Importance to Research provides information on the composition

of the Earth’s interior
METEOROIDS
METEOROIDS
A meteoroid is a chunk of rock or dust in

space. Meteoroids come from comets or
asteroids. Some form when asteroids collide in
space; others form when a comet breaks up and
creates a cloud of dust that continues to move
across the solar system.
METEORS
METEORS
If a meteoroid comes
close enough to Earth
and enters Earth’s
atmosphere, it
vaporizes and turns
into a meteor: a streak
of light in the sky.
METEORS
Because of their appearance, these

streaks of light are sometimes called
"shooting stars." But meteors are
not actually stars.
Meteor Shower
The Earth’s atmosphere
experiences millions of
meteors every day. When
many meteors occur in
a close time frame in
the same part of the
sky it is called a meteor
shower.
METEORITES
METEORITES
• When meteors landed on the Earth’s
ground, it is then called meteorites.
• Approximately 500 meteorites reach the
Earth’s surface every year but of those
only around 5 ever make it to scientists for
study.
Characteristics of Meteor
Characteristics
Origin most are from the Asteroid Belt
Chemical Composition fragments of asteroids and comets

iron, stone, stony-iron, and chondrites
orbit no orbit as it is inside the Earth’s
atmosphere
Orbital Period (in years) -
Importance to Research provides information on star formation

and evolution
SIMILARITIES
AND
DIFFERENCES
ORIGIN
• The main difference between the comet and
asteroid is the origin. Comets originate from
Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud while majority of the
known asteroids are found in the main asteroid
belt.
• Most asteroids and meteors come from the main
asteroid belt.
SHAPE
Comets, asteroids and
meteors all have
varied/irregular shape.
COMPOSITION
• Comets and asteroids both reflect light from the sun at
varying amounts depending on the size and composition.
Silicates are minerals which contain the elements silicon,
oxygen and at least one metal which is responsible for comets
and asteroids to be able to reflect light.
• Comets are mainly made up of ice, dust, rock and metal while
asteroids are made up of dust, rocks and/or metals.
ORBIT
• Both the comet and asteroid orbit the Sun and
move relatively slow when viewed from the
Earth.
• The orbit of an asteroid is more rounded and
less elliptical than the orbit of a comet. Meteor
has no orbit.
ORBIT OF COMET VS. ORBIT OF ASTEROID
Credits:
NASA website

Comets Meteors and Asteroids

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Comets Meteors and Asteroids

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COMETS,

• We call these short-period comets. They take less

A comet has two tails that get

Origin Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud

Chemical Composition dust, rock, metals, ice, frozen gases,

Orbital Period (in years) 75 to 100,000++

Importance to Research provides clues on how liquid water was

Most asteroids revolve around the

Origin Majority in the Main Asteroid Belt

Chemical Composition dust, rock, and metals like silicate, iron,

Importance to Research provides information on the composition

A meteoroid is a chunk of rock or dust in

Because of their appearance, these

Origin most are from the Asteroid Belt

Chemical Composition fragments of asteroids and comets

Importance to Research provides information on star formation

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