1. 4.S.4.1.1
Compare and contrast the basic components
of our solar system (planets, sun, moon,
asteroids, comets, meteors). (594.01b)

3. • Largest object in our solar system
• Sun is 70% Hydrogen, 28%Helium, everything
else is considered “metals”
• Temperature is about 11,000 degrees F

4. • Orbits the Earth once a month
• It is the only extraterrestrial body ever
visited by humans
• The moon causes tides
• Evidence suggest they may be water
on the moon

5. • A class of small-solar system bodies
• Orbit the Sun
• Small rocky–icy and metallic
• There are millions of asteroids
• Could possibly have been planets, but never got
big enough

6. • Comets have a wide range of
orbital periods, ranging from a
few years to hundreds of
thousands of years
• Comets are distinguished from
asteroids by the presence of a
coma or a tail.
• A comet is an icy small Solar
System body that, when close
enough to the Sun, displays a
visible coma (a thin, fuzzy,
temporary atmosphere) and
sometimes also a tail.

7. Meteoroids
• A solid object moving in interplanetary space
• Smaller than an asteroid and considerably larger than an atom
• Have been found to have many different orbits, some clustering in streams
• Often associated with a parent comet, others apparently sporadic
• Meteoroids travel around the Sun in a variety of orbits and at various velocities.
• The fastest ones move at about 26 miles per second