COMETS - known to be relatively small, solid body of frozen water, carbo dioxide, ammonia, and methane,

along with dusty and rocky bits of mixed in

Fred Whipple propsed what became known as the dirty-snowball cometary model which was recently
verified when spacecraft probes observed Halleys comet in 1986
- Based on calculations, comets are estimated to originate some 30 AU to a light year or more from the
sun
Oort Cloud spherical Cloud of objects beyond the orbit of Pluto from about 30, 000 A.U. out to a light-year
or more from the sun
- Its icy aggregates are understood to be the source of long-period comets

Kuiper Belt disk-shaped region of small icy bodies, which ranges from about 30 to 100 A.U. from the sun
- Understood to be the source of short period comets
Centaurs- six known objects orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune
- Small icy bodies similar to Pluto
- Believed to have escaped the Kuiper Belt
Jan Oort dutch astronomer who developed the current theory about origin of comet in 1950
- Huge cloud and belt of icy, dusty aggregates are leftovers from the formation of the solar system and
have been slowly circling the solar system ever since it is formed

Nucleus icy, dusty body forms which is the only substantial part of a comet

Coma materials from a large hazy head around the comet due to vaporization of frozen ice as it approaches
the Sun
- Grows thousand of kilometer across
Head of the comet - nucleus and coma together
Tail- pushed coma by solar wind and solar radiation
2 types of tail:
a. Ionized gases pushed into the tail by magnetic fields carried by the solar wind, fluorescent because
they are excited by ultraviolet radiation from the sun
b. Dust- pushed from the coma by sunlight, visible because of reflected sunlight
- Tail is generally away from the sun as it follow comet as it approaches and moves away from the sun
Comet loses some of its mass through evaporation of gases and loss of dust to the solar wind

Halleys Comet- return every 76 years

Hale-Bopp comet- probably the most-observed comet in history
- Very bright with a visual apparent magnitude of -1
- Visited the inner solar system about 4200 years ago, and will return again in about 2,300 years.

ASTEROIDS - asteroid inside the asteroid belt are made of stony materials, and those on the outside of the
belt are dark with carbon minerals
- Other asteroids are metallic, containing iron and nickel
- Asteroids are believed to have formed some 4.6 billion years ago from the original solar nebula
-
Groups of asteroids:
1. Asteroid belt
2. Trojan Asteroids- which lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit, Sun balance to keep them in the orbit
3. Apollo Asteroid has orbits that cross the orbit of Earth
o Believed that one of its asteroid collide with Earth as what happened with dinosaurs some 65
million years ago
Phobos and deimos of Mars are believed to be captured asteroid

METEORES and METEORITES

Meteoroids remnants of comets and asteroids after encountering the heat of sun or collision of asteroids in the
past
- When it encounters Earth moving through space, it accelerates toward the surface with a speed that
depends on its direction
- It begins to heat from air friction in the upper atmosphere, melting into visible trail of light and smoke
Meteor streak of light and smoke in the sky made by meteorides
- falling star or shooting star
- Most meteors burns up or evaporate completely within seconds after reaching an altitude of about 100
km because they are nothing more than a speck of dus
Meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through a stream of particles left by a comet in its orbit
(see table 1)

Meteorites if a meteorides survives its trip through the atmosphere to strike the Earths surface of Earth
Classification:
1. Iron meteorites- consist of variable amounts of iron and nickel, with traces of other element
2. Stony meteorites- most common composed of the same minerals that make up rocks on Earth
2 groups:
a. Chrondites- have structure of small spherical lumps of silicate minerals or glass called
chrondules, held together by a fine-grained cement
b. Achrondites- do not have chrondules, has homogenous texture more like volcanic rocks
such as basalt that cooled from molten rock
3. Stony-iron meteorites

Table 1
Some Annual Meteor Shower
NAME DATE OF MAXIMUM HOUR
RATE
Quadrantid January 3 30
Aquarid May 4 5
Perseid August 12 40
Orionid October 22 15
Taurids November 1, 16 5
Leonid November 17 5
Geminid December 12 55