Comets are known as what?

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• Comets are known as what?
• The comets ion tail always extends where?
• Most asteroids can be found in the ______
  __________?

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In your Table of Contents

• Did you add Sun Notes yesterday? If not, please
  add that.
• For today, add Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids
  Notes

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Comets, Asteroids, Meteors
In addition to planets and moons, the solar
system contains many other types of objects,
including comets, asteroids, and meteoroids.
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Comets

• BrainPop

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Comets

• A comet is a small body of ice, rock, and cosmic
  dust loosely packed together.
• Known as dirty snowballs.
• When a comet passes close enough to the sun,
  solar radiation heats the water ice so that the
  comet gives off gas and dust in the form of a
  long tail.
• The ion tail consists of electrically charged
  particles of gas.

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Comet Orbits

• The difference between the orbit of a planet and
  the orbit of a comet is that a comet's orbit is
  highly elliptical and a planet's orbit is only
  slightly elliptical, but more circular.
• The comets ion tail always extends away from the
  sun.
• This is because the ion tail is blown away from
  the sun by the solar wind.

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IS THAT A FACT!

• When the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke apart and
  fell into Jupiter, some of the fragments
  generated explosions that produced fireballs
  larger than Earth.

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• Switch composition notebooks with your neighbor.
  On their planetary placement page, write one fact
  about Comets under the chart of the planets. Be
  sure you label it comets for them. Then, switch
  back and stand up.

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• Asteroids

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Asteroids

• Asteroids are small, rocky bodies in orbit around
  the sun.
• Have irregular shapes
• Most asteroids orbit the sun in a wide region
  between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, called
  the asteroid belt.

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Add to the bottom of your notes pageTypes of
Asteroids

• Outer region of the asteroid belt dark reddish
  brown to black surfaces
• A little closer to the sun dark gray surfaces
• Innermost part of the belt light gray asteroids
• Examples Hektor, Vesta, and Ceres

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• Under comets on your planetary placement, add one
  fact about Asteroids. Be sure to label it
  asteroids.
• Stand up when you are finished.

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Meteoroids

• A meteoroid is a small, rocky body orbiting the
  sun.
• Meteoroids are similar to asteroids, but they are
  much smaller.
• In fact, meteoroids probably come from asteroids.
  

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Meteoroids

• If a meteoroid enters Earths atmosphere and
  strikes the ground, it is then called a
  meteorite.
• Stony, metallic, and stony-iron are the three
  major types of meteorites.
• It travels at such high speeds that it heats up
  and melts.
• As it burns up, the meteoroid glows red hot and
  gives off an enormous amount of light.
• From the ground we see a streak of light or
  shooting star.
• The bright streak of light caused by a meteoroid
  or comet dust burning up in the atmosphere is
  called a meteor.
• Some meteors that hit the ground can cause
  craters.

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Meteor Crater

• Planets and moons that have no atmosphere have
  many more impact craters than those that do have
  atmospheres.
• Earths atmosphere acts like a shield.

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WEIRD
SCIENCE

• In 1954, Mrs. E. Hulitt Hodge, of Alabama, was
  struck by a meteorite as she was taking her
  afternoon nap. Bruised, but not badly injured,
  she is one of only two people known to have been
  struck by a meteorite.