Comets, Asteroids and Meteors Pages What is a comet? Where are most comets found? Draw a picture of a comet and identify the different parts. Describe their MOTION and how they change as they approach the sun?

Comet (dirty snowball): collection of ice, dust and small rocks; long, narrow ellipses * Head: Nucleus-solid inner core Coma-fuzzy (clouds of gases/dust) outer layer * Tail: Dust and Gases Up to 100, 000, 000 km long Grows as it approaches the sun in its orbit *Most comets are found: Kuiper belt: area beyond our planets (contains “icy” objects) Oort cloud: area beyond the Kuiper belt

Comets, Asteroids and Meteors Page 106 What is an asteroid? What are they made of? How did they form? Where are most of them located?

Asteroid: rocky objects that are too small (and too numerous) to call planets that orbit the sun Asteroid Belt: revolving asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter (separate the Inner and Outer Planets) Ceres (dwarf planet along with Pluto)

Comets, Asteroids and Meteors Page 107 What is the difference between a meteoroid, meteor and a meteorite? What are they made of? Where do they come from?

Meteoroid: chunk of rock or dust (from an asteroid or comet) Meteor: a meteoroid burning due to Earth’s atmosphere Meteorite: a meteoroid that survives Earth’s atmosphere and collides with Earth (resulting in a crater)