Meteoroids, Asteroids and Comets

Meteoroid

Floating piece of stone and metal that moves in space

Asteroid

large metal and rocky body that travels around the sun in its own orbit

Comet

a small body made up of mixture of ice, gas and frozen dust and travels around the sun in its own orbit

size of meteoroid

various sizes from 10 micrometer to 1 meter

Material of meteoroids and asteroids

made up of stones and metals such as iron and nickel

Origin of a meteoroid

fragments of asteroid and comets

surface temp of meteoroid

0 celcius

Fastest meteoroid speed

42km s^-1

Surface temperature of Asteroid

-73 celcius

Average of speed asteroid

25 km s^-1

Location of asteroid belt

Mars and Jupiter

Examples of large asteroids

Ceres,Pallas, Juno, Vesta with a diameters from a few km to 1000km

Asteroids also known as

small planets

Two main parts of a comet

head and tail

The length of a comet’s tail

up to 150000000 km

Size of a comet’s head

up to 250000km

A comet comprises

gas and water freezes into ice, dust and rocky particles

The shape of comet orbit

elliptical orbit

Average speed of a comet

10 km s^-1 to 70 km s^-1

Meteor

when a meteoroid enters the earth’s atmosphere. Molecular friction between air and it produces heat until its burn and forms a streak of light

meteor shower

when many meteors enter earth at the same time

meteorites

when a meteor reach the earth. It forms craters as an impact.

Examples of asteroids outside of the asteroid belt

Apollo, amor, aten

most comets are from

Kuiper belt and Oort cloud

when a comet gets near to the sun

it increases in speed, melts and appears to have a long tail

Reason why the comet’s tail is always away from the sun

solar wind blowing from the sun

a comet slip out of orbit

when outer planets have strong gravitational pull

how is collision prevented

• scientists monitoring the asteroids in space to ensure that the orbits of the asteroids are afe distance from the orbit of earth

• warnings will be issued when theres a risk

• Asteroids that approach the earth will have its course changed or destroyed