This document summarizes different objects found in space, including comets, meteoroids, meteors, meteorites, and asteroids. Comets are composed of ice and dust and have tails formed when they pass close to stars. Meteoroids are rocky debris that can burn up in Earth's atmosphere and become meteors or meteorites. Asteroids orbit the sun in a belt between Mars and Jupiter and range in size from dust to moon-sized bodies.

1. Chapter 24 Section 4: Other Objects in Space

2. Chapter 24: Section 4 Comets: 1. Controlled by a star’s gravity Travel through planets’ orbits, out of the Solar System, & back in again Pgs. 662 - 666 Halley’s Comet Hale-Bopp Comet

3. Chapter 24: Section 4 Comets: HALLEY’S COMET: Most famous (last seen 1986) Returns every 76 years Will return in 2062 HALE-BOPP: Most recent comet Discovered in July 23, 1995 Visible from Earth during 1997 Pgs. 662 - 666 Halley’s Comet Hale-Bopp Comet

4. Chapter 24:Section 4 Comet Composition: Dust, rock, frozen methane, ammonia, and water Comets normally look like dirty snowballs When they get close to stars, they change They begin to vaporize & Glow Forms a coma (tail) from the nucleus (head) Coma: glowing trail of particles Always points away from the star

5. Chapter 24: Section 4 Comet Composition (cont’d) Comets eventually break up into space debris Oort Cloud: large collection of comets beyond Pluto

6. Chapter 24: Section 4 C. Meteoroids: chunks of rock Randomly moving through space Usually leftover comet or asteroid debris

7. Chapter 24: Section 4 Meteor: Meteoroid that enters Earth’s atmosphere Heat up & begin to glow = shooting star Most burn up before reaching the surface Many meteors at one time = meteor shower

8. Chapter 24: Section 4 Meteorite: Meteor that does not totally burn up, & strikes the Earth’s surface Impact creates a crater

9. LARGEST METEORITE TO HIT EARTH – Namibia, Africa

10. Largest US Meteorite – Kansas under 6 feet of earth.

11. Chapter 24: Section 4 F. Asteroids Large rocks located between Mars & Jupiter Asteroid belt: Large orbiting ring of asteroids Believed to be a planet that never formed

12. Chapter 24: Section 4 Range in size from dust to Moon size Some Named Asteroids: Ceres: 940 km (Largest known) Pallas: 523 km Vesta: 501 km Juno: 244 km Gaspra & Ida: Photographed by Galileo probe Ida even has a smaller asteroid orbiting it