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The Small Stuff

The Small Stuff. Meteoroids, Asteroids And . C omets. Planets are large objects that orbit the Sun. To be a full-fledged planet the object must: Have enough mass to be spherical Clear its orbit of other objects of similar size Smaller objects which orbit the Sun are either:

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The Small Stuff

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  1. The Small Stuff Meteoroids, Asteroids And Comets

  2. Planets are large objects that orbit the Sun. To be a full-fledged planet the object must: • Have enough mass to be spherical • Clear its orbit of other objects of similar size Smaller objects which orbit the Sun are either: • Dwarf Planets, which have enough mass to be round but haven’t cleared their orbits • Comets, Icy objects that melt as they near the Sun forming “tails” • Asteroids, rocky objects that have too little mass to make themselves spherical. • Meteoroids, even smaller rocky objects

  3. Meteoroids, Meteors & Meteorites Meteoroids often have orbits that cross that of Earth. When they are in space they are called Meteoroids When they fall through the atmosphere they heat up and glow… A “falling star” or Meteor The largest meteors are known as “Fireballs” Most burn up before they hit the surface. Those that hit the Earth (or other planet or moon) are called Meteorites

  4. Three Kinds of Meteoroids Meteoroids are divided into three kinds: • Iron, made of metal, mostly iron. • Stony, made of silicates • Stony-Iron, of mixed composition

  5. Chondritic Meteoroids Most stony meteoroids are made of smaller rounded chunks called chondrules These “chondritic” meteoroids are 4.5 billion years old. They probably are some of the first objects to condense out of the solar nebula

  6. Carbonaceous Chondritics Some chondritic meteoroids have a high carbon content. These carbonaceouschondritic meteoroids often contain organic compound including amino-acids! So the building blocks of proteins and thus life have been around since before the solar system formed.

  7. Origin Most meteoroids are fragments of asteroids or comets. Some have been blasted off of planets or moons during collisions. Some may have condensed in the early solar system and just never became part of a larger object.

  8. Meteor Showers Meteors fall toward Earth all the time. Meteoroids that came from comets often orbit in groups near the path of the comet’s orbit. When the Earth passes through one of these “clouds” of meteoroids the number of meteors per hour goes up significantly A Meteor “Shower”

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