Objective
To take a glimpse at other objects found in our Solar System.
Skills Focus
Visual discrimination, examining fact and fiction through role play, storytelling, and creative writing.
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Key Words:
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Asteroids
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Comets
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Meteors
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Meteorites
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Meteoroids
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sublimes
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What are Asteroids, Meteors, and Comets*?
Asteroids
are known as minor planets. Many look like broken pieces of rocky metal, filled with holes and jagged edges. Others look like crater-filled balls of solid formerly melted rock. They rotate and revolve around the Sun, and are found between the planets Mars and Jupiter (an area known as the asteroid belt). Some asteroids are as small as a pebble on the beach. Others are tremendous, as wide as 40 cars lined up together. Some scientists believe asteroids are broken pieces from other planets, but no one really knows how they came to be.
Meteors
are more commonly called Shooting Stars. They look like bright streaks of light briefly zooming through a clear night sky. Their light is caused by friction, the rubbing of two objects together. In this instance, the speeding meteor and the air in the Earth’s atmosphere are rubbing together, causing light sparks to form in the air around the meteor. Most of the meteors that we see start out the size of a little grain of sand. Sometimes, metallic particles from the meteor (called meteoroids) enter the Earth’s atmosphere. If they hit the ground, they are called
meteorites
. Usually, they are very small, but some that have crashed on Earth look like a huge, bumpy metallic rock.
A
Comet
differs from a meteor in that it is a mixture of frozen water and gases mixed with dust and other particles. It’s like a dirty snow ball. Comets orbit the Sun very slowly way beyond the planets, but sometimes we can see them.
When a comet travels near the Sun, it sublimes, that is, its frozen, solid form changes immediately into a gas. As the gases are released, solar winds push them. We see the comets ablaze followed by a glowing tail.
*Note: Use visual aids provided by NASA when presenting these celestial objects.
