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Chapter 23 Section 4 Minor Members of Our Solar System

Chapter 23 Section 4 Minor Members of Our Solar System. Asteroids Comets Meteoroids/Meteors/Meteorites Kuiper Belt Oort Cloud. Asteroids. Small rocky bodies; irregular shape Lie between orbits of Mars & Jupiter ( asteroid belt ) Orbital period of 3-6 years

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Chapter 23 Section 4 Minor Members of Our Solar System

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  1. Chapter 23 Section 4Minor Members of Our Solar System Asteroids Comets Meteoroids/Meteors/Meteorites Kuiper Belt Oort Cloud

  2. Asteroids • Small rocky bodies; irregular shape • Lie between orbits of Mars & Jupiter (asteroid belt) • Orbital period of 3-6 years • Some asteroids have veryeccentricorbits & travel close to the Sun. • Others (larger) regularly pass close to Earth & Moon • Largest asteroid: Ceres—1,000 km diameter NASA Capture Pet Asteroid? PHAs (Potentially Hazardous Asteroids) Why track asteroid paths?

  3. Location of Asteroids

  4. Comets • Rocky, metallic material held together by frozen gases (water, ammonia, methane, CO2, and CO) • Elongated orbits (far beyond Pluto) • Orbital period of most  hundreds of thousands of years • Some less than 200 years and encounter inner solar system • Anatomy of a comet: • Coma-glowing head produced as frozen gases vaporized • Nucleus-located in the coma; icy • Tail-typically forms as approach Sun (can extend millions of km); always points AWAY from Sun in curved manner • Radiation pressure—forms dust tail • Solar wind– forms ionized (gas) tail (mainly CO) Space Debris Song

  5. Halley’s Comet -Periodic comet -Passes Earth every 76 years -Last pass: 1986 -Next pass: 2061 Comet Ison -Originated from Oort Cloud -Most agree it did not survive orbit around Sun

  6. Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud • OortCloud • Birthplace of long orbital period comets; highly eccentric orbits; not confined to plane of solar system • “3-D shell” around solar system • Very rarely do we observe an Oort Cloud comet Kuiper Belt • Birthplace of short orbital period comets; nearly circular orbits roughly in same plane of planets • Located beyond Neptune • Most comets we see are Kuiper Belt comets Closer Look at the Kuiper Belt

  7. Meteoroids • Meteoroid: small solid particle in space; made of iron • Originate from: interplanetary debris, asteroid belt, or remains of a comet • Meteor: meteoroids that enter Earth’s atmosphere; burn once in atmos. • Where does light originate? • Meteor showers  Earth encounters swarm of meteoroids traveling same speed/direction  link to comets…WHY? • Meteorite: reaches Earth’s surface • Meteor CraterWinslow, Arizona • ~50,000 years ago • Originated from asteroid belt • ~26,000 mph prior to impact; 150 ft across • Crater is roughly • 1 mile wide • 2.4 mile circumference • 550 feet deep

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