Comets Asteroids meteors meteoroids pptppt 1

comets meteoroids asteroids

1. Comets, Asteroids,
and Meteoroids
Section 20.5

2. Comets
•Loose collections of ice, dust, and
small rocky particles whose orbits are
usually very long, narrow ellipses
•Comet head is made of a solid inner
core (nucleus) and a fuzzy outer layer
(coma)

3. Comets
•The coma forms when gases are
released due to getting close to the sun
•A comets tail is caused by gases
streaming away from the sun
Head
Tail

4. Comets
•Comets originate from the Kuiper belt
(outside of Neptune) or the Oort cloud
(surrounds the solar system)

5. Asteroids
•Rocky objects that are too small and
numerous to be considered planets
•Most orbit between Mars and Jupiter
(asteroid belt)
•One hit Earth 65
million years ago
•One could hit again

6. Meteors
•Meteoroid – chunk of rock or dust in space
•Meteor – a meteoroid that is burning up in
Earth’s atmosphere
•Meteorite – a meteor that doesn’t
completely burn up and hits the
ground