Sci8 - Comets Meteoroids Asteroids

Other members of
the Solar System:

Comets, Meteroids,
and Asteroids
Prepared by: Ms. Mary Angelique M. Mundin, LPT
Comets
 are frozen leftovers from the
formation of the solar system
composed of dust, rock, and
ices.
 they range from a few miles to
tens of miles wide, but as they
orbit closer to the Sun, they heat
up and spew gases and dust into
a glowing head that can be
larger than a planet.
 This material forms a tail that
stretches millions of miles.
Parts of the Comets
Nucleus:
- is the solid “dirty snowball”
core of a comet.
- consists: water ice, other
volatile ices (carbon dioxide,
methane, ammonia, carbon
monoxide), silicate dust, and
organic particles (methanol,
hydrogen cyanide, ethanol,
formaldehyde, ethane, amino
acids, hydrocarbons).
Parts of the Comets
Nucleus:
- a typical comet
is a few
kilometers in
diameter.
- Cometary
nuclei range in
color from very
red to slightly
blue.
Parts of the Comets
Coma
 is the atmosphere that
escapes from the
nucleus. As the comet
nears the Sun, the solar
wind sublimates the
volatile ice into vapor,
carrying some dust
particles along.
Parts of the Comets
Coma
 it color changes according
to “seasons” on a comet.
As a comet nears the Sun,
its coma sometimes glows
green.
 a comet has a coma,
while an
asteroid lacks this feature.
Parts of the Comets
Hydrogen Envelope
 an invisible cloud
of hydrogen surrounds the
coma.
 the hydrogen cloud that
surrounds a comet can be
millions of kilometers in
diameter, but the neutral
hydrogen gas only appears to
instruments and not human
eyes.
Parts of the Comets
Dust Tail
 solar radiation blows the
dusty vapor of the coma
back, forming the dust tail.
 the comet’s orbit also
affects the tail, so it usually
curves back behind the
comet’s path.
Parts of the Comets
Dust Tail
 usually, the tail is
yellow or white in
color.
 it extends up to 10
million kilometers
behind the nucleus
and coma.
Parts of the Comets
Ion Tail
 points almost exactly
away from the Sun.
 solar radiation ionizes
volatile gases in the coma
and pushes this plasma
away from the comet.
Parts of the Comets
Ion Tail
 it often has a blue
glow from CO+ ions.
 it is narrow and
extends back 100
million kilometers
behind the nucleus.
 it has rays and
streamers from
particles interacting
with the solar wind.
Meteroids
 objects in space that range in size
from dust grains to small asteroids.
 are fragments of rocky or
metallic materials
Meteroids
 results from the breakup of
comets as they come close to
the Sun
 may also result from the
collision of two asteroids
 the fragments may remain in Meteroids

their orbit, unless they cross
Earth’s orbit and get pulled by
the gravity into its atmosphere
Meteors
When meteoroids enter
Earth’s atmosphere (or that
of another planet, like
Mars) at high speed and
burn up, the fireballs or
“shooting stars” are
called meteors.
> “Bulalakaw” in Filipino
Meteor explosion a.k.a. ‘bolide’ or fireball. 
Meteors
Aerial view of
large Arizona
meteors Meteor Crater,
create holes September
2010
or craters on
the ground
upon impact
Meteors
FUN FACTS!
 Every year, the Earth is hit by
about 6100 meteors large
enough to reach the ground,
or about 17 every day,
research has revealed.
FUN
FACTS!
 An asteroid
ended the age
of the dinosaurs.
Meteorites
When a meteoroid survives a
trip through the atmosphere
and hits the ground, it’s called
a meteorite.
Alex Meshik and Morgan Nunn Martinez collect a meteorite in

Antarctica's Miller Range during the 2013-2014 ANSMET field season.
ANSMET is the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program.
Credit: NASA/JSC/ANSMET
Meteor Shower
 Scientists estimate that
about 48.5 tons (44,000
kilograms) of meteoritic
material falls on Earth
each day.
 Almost all the material is
vaporized in Earth's
atmosphere, leaving a
bright trail fondly called
"shooting stars."
Meteor Shower
 Several meteors per hour
can usually be seen on
any given night.
Sometimes the number
increases dramatically—
these events are
termed meteor showers.
Asteroids
 sometimes called minor
planets, are rocky, airless
remnants left over from the
early formation of our solar
system about 4.6 billion years
ago.
 The current known asteroid
count is: 1,308,871.
Asteroids
 Asteroids range in size from Ceres – the largest at about
939 kilometers in diameter – to bodies that are less than
33 feet 10 meters across.
Asteroid Belt
 The total mass of all
the asteroids in the
main asteroid belt
combined is less than
that of Earth's Moon.
 Smaller boulders,
gravels, and grains of
sand.
Naming of Asteroids
Ceres
- The first and

largest asteroid
discovered with
940 km in
diameter.
Naming of Asteroids
2015 TC25
- which rotates once every
133 seconds, is only about 6
feet (2 meters) in diameter,
making it the smallest
asteroid ever mineralogically
characterized with a ground-
based telescope.
Naming of Asteroids (Filipino Achievers)
Asteroid 4866
Badillo (Fr.
Victor L.
Badillo, SJ)
Asteroid 6282
Edwelda
(Edwin L.
Aguirre and
Imelda B.
Jason)
Asteroid 6636
Kintanar
(Roman
Lucero
Kintanar, Ph.
D.)
Asteroid 6636
Kintanar
(Roman
Lucero
Kintanar, Ph.
D.)
Asteroid 6636 Kintanar (Roman
Lucero Kintanar, Ph. D.)
Asteroid
13241 Biyo
(Josette
Talamera
Biyo, Ph. D.)

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Other members of

the Solar System:

 the fragments may remain in Meteroids

Alex Meshik and Morgan Nunn Martinez collect a meteorite in

- The first and

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