COMETS

ASTEROIDS
and
METEOR

What is a
COMET?
The word "comet" comes
from the Greek word
kometes which means
long haired.
A comet is a very small
solar system body made
mostly of ices mixed with

Parts of a Comet
Nucleus (1- 10km across or
more)
The main body of a comet
Frozen center of
acometshead
Water , Methane,
Nitrogen, Dust and other

Parts of a Comet
Coma (Million Km Across)
roughly spherical blob of gas
that surrounds the nucleus of a
comet
Water Vapor, Carbon Dioxide,
Gas, Ammonia, Dust and Neutral
Gases that have sublimed from
the solid nucleus.

Parts of a Comet
Ion Tail / Plasma Tail
tail of charged gases
(Always faces away from
the sun because the solar
wind pushes it away).

Parts of a Comet
Dust Tail
a long, wide tail composed
of microscopic dust particles
that are buffeted by
photons emitted from the
Sun

Structures of Comet

Origin of Comets
Kuiper belt
doughnut-shaped region
that extends beyond
Neptunes orbit to about 50
times Earths distance from
the sun.
Short Period or Periodic Comet

Origin of Comets
Oort cloud
spherical region of comets that
surrounds the solar system out to
more than 1,000 times the
distance between Pluto and the
sun.
Long Period or Non Periodic Comet

Difference between Aphelion and

Perihelion

helios

peri
apo

Sun
Near
Away

Perihelion
closest point to the Sun in
a planet's orbit

Aphelion
furthest point to the Sun in a
planet's orbit

Long Period Comets

On March 25thof 1996,Yuji Hyakutake

discovered Comet Hyakutake using
binoculars. The comet passed very
close to Earth and was able to seen by
naked eye for over three months.

Long Period Comets

It was distinctly bluish-turquoise in

color and had the longest tail ever
seen. It is also a long-period comet,
making it previous appearance about
15,000 years ago.

Long Period
Comets

This comet was discovered

independently in 1995 by Alan
Hale in New Mexico and Thomas
Bopp in Arizona. It is the farthest

Long Period Comets

Hale-bopp The most widely observedcometof

the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for
many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for
a record of 18months, twice as long as the
previous record holder. The Great Comet of

Hale-Bopp

Comet McNaught, or the Great Comet

of 2007, was the brightest to appear
in sky for 40 years .Discovered by the
astronomerRobert H. McNaught.

Short Period
Comets

Halley Cometthe best-known of

theshort-periodicand is visible
fromEarthevery 7576 years.

Short Period Comets

This famous comet is named after

the English astronomer Edmond
Halley , who first calculated orbit
around the sun every 75-76 years.

Shoemaker Levy 9

A cometthat broke apart

and collided with Jupiterin
July 1994,

ASTEROIDS

What Is An Asteroid?
small Solar System bodies that
orbit theSun. Made of rock and
metal, they can also contain
organic compounds.
similar tocometsbut do not
have a visible coma.
also known as planetoids or
minor planets.

What Is An Asteroid?
vary greatly in size, some
feature diameters as small as
ten metres while others
stretch out over hundreds of
kilometres.
Most of them orbit the Sun
between Mars and Jupiter

The First
Asteroid
was discovered in 1801
Giuseppe Piazzi ( Italian
Astronomer)
950km in diameter
Ceres (Dwarf Planet,
2006)

Types of Asteroid
C-types (Chondrites) /
carbonaceous
are made of clay and silicate
rocks

S-types (Stony Asteroids)

are made mostly of silicate rocks
and nickel-iron mixtures

M-types (Metallic Asteroids)

Chondrites

Stony

Metallic

NEAs (Near-Earth Asteroids)

Atira
Atens
Apollos
Amors

METEOR

Meteor, Meteoroid &

Meteorites
Meteoroid

a small rock or particle of debris

in our solar system.
They range in size from dust to
around 10 metres in diameter
or smaller than a kilometer.

Meteor, Meteoroid &

Meteorites
METEOROID

Most meteoroids that enter the

Earth's atmosphere are so small
that they vaporize completely and
never reach the planet's surface.
The fastest meteoroids travel
through the solar system at a
speed of around 42 kilometres per
second

Meteor, Meteoroid &

Meteorites

Meteor
meteoroid that burns up as it passes
through the Earths atmosphere
Shooting Star or Falling Star
streaks of light produced when a
meteoroid burns up in the Earth's
atmosphere.
are dust and rock in space
( Meteoroid)

Meteor, Meteoroid &

Meteorites
Meteorite
A meteoroid that survives
falling through the Earths
atmosphere and colliding with
the Earths surface
fragments of rock and/or
metal thatfall to Earthfrom
space

Three Main Groups of

Meteorites
iron meteorites
are almost completely metal

stony-iron meteorites
have nearly equal amounts of
metal and silicate crystals

stony meteorites
are dominated by silicate
minerals

Meteor Shower
celestial eventin which a
number ofmeteorsare observed
to radiate, or originate, from one
point in thenight sky.
a spike in the number of meteors
or "shooting stars" that streak
through the night sky.

Meteor Shower
Meteor showers are named for the
constellation that coincides with this
region in the sky, a spot known as
the radiant
Examples:
Leonid = Leo
Geminid = Gemini
Perseid = Perseus

2014 Meteor Showers

Name

Date of
Peak

Moon

Quandrantids

Night of January 2

Just past new

Lyrids

Night of April 21

Rises around 3 a.m

Eta Aquarids

Night of May 5

Sets after Midnight

Comet 209P/LINEAR

Night of May 23

Perseids

Night of August 12

Orionids

Night of October 21

Early Morning
Crescent
In view most of the
night
Dawn Crescent

Leonids

Night of November
16/17
Night of December

Early Morning
Crescent
In the view after

Geminids

Are you Ready?