What’s That Up In The Sky???...The light trail may stay in the sky for up to 30 minutes, often...
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5/3/2015 1 What’s That Up In The Sky??? The difference between Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids Comets………Dirty Chunks of Ice • They look like stars with ghostly white and blue tails • Their name comes from “aster kometes” which means “long-haired star” in Greek
Transcript of What’s That Up In The Sky???...The light trail may stay in the sky for up to 30 minutes, often...
5/3/2015
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What’s That Up In The Sky???
The difference between
Comets,
Meteors,
and Asteroids
Comets………Dirty Chunks of Ice
• They look like stars with ghostly white and blue tails
• Their name comes from “aster kometes” which means “long-haired star” in Greek
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Comets………The 3 parts are……
Nucleus – icy, hard part of the comet
Coma – gas and dust are released, forming an atmosphere around the comet
Tail – made of material from the comet (from the coma)
Comets………Dirty Chunks of Ice
They can be seen when they pass near the sun and the sun’s heat “melts” them
The tail always points away from the sun due to solar winds (movement of heat away from sun)
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Comets………Dirty Chunks of Ice They travel around the sun in long, looping
orbits that bring them near the sun and
other parts of the solar system
Comets…Regular Visitors
Some famous comets!
Comet Halley (76 year period) Comet Hale–Bopp (2400 year period)
Comet Swift–Tuttle (120 year period)
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Asteroids……Rockin’ Around
Asteroids are LARGE chunks of rock and metal that orbit the sun
They range from about ½ a mile to a few hundred miles in diameter
Asteroids……Rockin’ Around Most asteroids travel
in the Asteroid Belt –
the wide gap between
the inner and outer
planets (between
Mars and Jupiter)
Some travel in paths
across Mars’ orbit and
some even cross into
Earth’s orbit
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Asteroids……Rockin’ Around
MOST of the chunks
of rock and metal in
space came together
long ago to form the
planets and moons
Asteroids are the
left–over pieces of
rock from when the
solar system was
formed.
Meteors…Shooting Stars or Space Garbage
Meteors are also called shooting
stars
Meteors are small pieces of
space debris (junk) pulled into
Earth’s atmosphere by gravity
Meteorites are metallic rocks
broken off from asteroids and
comets
Meteors fall to Earth at speeds
ranging from 22,000 to 64,000
MPH (8x shuttle speed)
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Most meteors are only the size of a grain of sand and burn up while entering Earth’s Atmosphere
Scientists have studied craters that show that one about the size of a house landed about 250,000 years ago!
Meteors…Shooting Stars or Space Garbage
Meteors are falling all the time
On a clear, dark, night you
may even see one without a
telescope
During our annual meteor
showers, you may see up to
100 meteors per hour!
Meteors…Shooting Stars or Space Garbage
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Entering Earth’s atmosphere so fast creates a lot of friction causing them to heat up and give off light
The light trail may stay in the sky for up to 30 minutes, often ending with a “POP”
Meteors…Shooting Stars or Space Garbage
An asteroid about 10 kilometers wide, traveling at 30 km/sec smashed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, leaving a crater over 150 kilometers wide
So…What killed the dinosaurs?
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What’s That Up In The Sky???
COMETS ASTEROIDS METEORS
Made of ice;
have tails
Made of rock
and metal
Made of rock
and metal
Stay in space Stay in space Fall into
Earth’s
atmosphere
Orbit the sun Orbit the sun Gravity pulls
them to Earth;
they burn up
as they fall
Meteor
Madness!!!
Played like Battleship!
On the front secretly place YOUR 8 planets!
Correction on Saturn (4x4 =16 squares)
When you get a hit, mark it!
One guess per turn (example: A10)
On the back is YOUR ATTACK:
One color to document your attack
Hit= X Miss= O
Destroy all of your opponents planets to win!
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How big do the planets need to be?
Websites and Videos from the Presentation
1. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGTq14qCwJk
(What is a Comet?)
2. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/comets/comet_model_interactive.html
(Interactive Comet Animation)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy19nHTVLEY
(What is an Asteroid?)
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLyCtPmuZ8Y
(What is a Meteor?)
5. http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide
(EarthSky’s Meteor Shower Guide for 2015)
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqR0r0XryoQ
(Russia Hunts for Meteorite Fragments)
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAJHVII3_-0
(How are Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors Different?)
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Ij9xboreA
(How Dinosaurs Went Extinct)
