Review on Solar System

 Why do planets revolve around the sun?

 What planet have the greatest number of moons?
 What planets do not have a moon?
 Why inner planets are considered terrestrial
planets?
 How do the sun sustain its heat and light?
8 SCIENCE
Online Distance Learning

Pangasinan National High School

Comets, Meteors, and

Asteroids
MELC: Compare and contrast comets, meteors, and
asteroids
Quarter2: (Week S8ES-IIg-22)

RONNIE M. ABSALON, JR.

Science Teacher
Comets,
Asteroids and
Meteors
 COMET
 The word "comet" comes from the Greek word “kometes”
for “long haired.”
 Our ancestors thought comets were stars with what looked
like flowing hair trailing behind in the vast space.
 What is space?
It is the area beyond the atmosphere of Earth. There are
three segments of these areas: the interplanetary space,
interstellar space and the intergalactic space.
INTERPLANETARY SPACE

 It is the portion within the

solar system.

INTERGALACTIC SPACE
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
• It is between the Milky
• It is beyond the solar Way and other galaxies.
system but within the
Milky Way.
 Parts of a Comet
Ion Tail

Nucleus Dust Tail

Coma
The Elliptical Orbit of a Comet
 Famous Comets
COMET OF 1577

COMET WEST COMET HALLEY

COMET HYAKUTAKE
HALE-BOPP COMET
ASTEROIDS
Asteroids
 A small and rocky space object.
 Most asteroids are found in the
asteroid belt.
 The asteroid belt is located between
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Asteroid belt
Activity 1
What happens when a comet or an asteroid hits Earth?
Objectives:
After performing this activity, you should be able to:
1. describe how impact craters are formed when a comet or asteroid hits
Earth based on a simulation; and
2. present observations on simulating a comet or asteroid impact using
drawings.

Materials Needed:
1 rectangular container (aluminum tray or plastic)
1 pebble (1-4 cm in diameter)
colored flour/colored starch
pencil
Procedure:
1. Fill the rectangular tray with colored flour about 3-4 centimeters deep.
2. Place the tray on top of a table (or arm rest of a chair).
3. Throw a pebble to hit the flour in the tray. Do this about four times, hitting different
parts of the flour in the tray.

4. On the space below, draw the shape of the “craters” made by the pebble on the
colored flour as:
a. viewed from the top. b. viewed from the side

Top view of pebble crater Side view of the pebble crater

Comets,
Asteroids and
Meteors
5. Compare the shape of the pebble’s “crater” with the impact crater photo
shown below.

Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona, USA

(Permission obtained from the Center for Science Education,
UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory)
Q1. What do you notice about the shape of
your pebble’s crater and the impact crater
shown in the photo?
Q2. What do you think happened to the
plants and animals living in the area where the
comet or asteroid crashed?
Q3. Which is most likely to make a more
frequent “visitor” of Earth: comet or asteroid?
Why do you think so?
 CHARACTERISTICS COMET ASTEROID
Origin Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud Main Asteroid Belt

Shape Varied/Irregular Varied/Irregular

Size range of diameter (kilometer) 1-10 (nucleus only) 1 – 100++

Chemical composition Ice (frozen water); frozen gases Silicates (olivine and pyroxene),
(ammonia, methane, and carbon iron, nickel
dioxide); other organic
compounds (Carbon-containing
compounds)

Orbit Highly elliptical More rounded

Orbital period (years) 75 to 100,000++ 1 – 100

 METEOROIDS
 Meteoroid - chunk of rock or dust in space.
 Meteoroids come from comets or asteroids.
 METEORS
 When a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere,
friction with the air creates heat and produces a
streak of light that you can see in the sky.
 A meteor is a meteoroid that enters Earth’s
atmosphere and burns up.
 METEORITES
 Meteoroids that pass through the atmosphere and hit
Earth’s surface are called meteorites.
 Classified by composition: stony, iron ,or stony-iron.
Irons Stony-Irons

Chondrites Carbonaceous Chondrite

Achondrite
Activity 2
Meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite: How are they related?

Objectives:
After performing this activity, you should be able to:
1. describe the changes that happens to a fragment from a
comet or asteroid as it enters Earth’s atmosphere;
2. represent the relationship between a meteoroid, meteor,
and meteorite using a diagram; and
3. explain how meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite are related.
Procedure:
Read the selection below and answer the questions as you go along
(see Learner’s Material pp.160-163).
Q1. What is a meteor?
Q2. What is a meteoroid?
Q3. From what celestial (space) objects can a meteoroid come from?
Q4. What causes a meteor?
Q5. How can you differentiate a meteor from a comet when viewed from
Earth?
Q6. Show where a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite are most likely to be found
in the diagram below. Use the following symbols for each: # meteor; *
meteoroid; and + meteorite.

outer space

atmosphere
crust

Q7. How are a meteor, meteoroid, and a meteorite related?

Let’s evaluate your learning…
A HEAVENLY BODY THAT IS
DESCRIBED BEFORE AS A
“STAR WITH A TAIL” BY
EARLY FOLKS.
comet
These are space rocks that orbit around
the sun.

asteroid
These are rock from space
that hits the surface of
the earth.

meteorites
It is the largest known
asteroid in space.

Ceres
These are fragments of
comets or asteroids in
space.

meteoroid
Hale-Bopp comet will be
seen again after how
many years?

2 400 years
The maximum length of
the tail of a comet.

10 000 000 km
The scientific term for
the“shooting star” or
“falling star.”

meteor
 According to scientists, what
could have caused the extinction
of the dinosaurs?

Asteroid that hits earth

 The acronym NASA means…

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

 Asteroid belt is located
between the planets _______
and ___________.

Mars and Jupiter

Part of a comet that always
points away from the sun.

Tail
Halley’s comet reappears every
how many years?

76 years
Metals, silicate, iron, nickel and
carbon are components of what
space object?

Asteroid
When was Hale – Bopp Comet
was discovered?

July 23, 1995

Name at least three famous
comets

Halley, Hale-Bopp,
West, Hyakutake,
Comet 1577
When was the asteroid Ceres
was discovered?

1801
There are how many known
asteroids in the asteroid belt
with a diameter of 1 km?

40 000
The Hale-Bopp comet was first
seen outside the orbit of what
planet?

Jupiter
What is the average diameter
of a comet’s coma?

100 000 km
A comet’s nucleus is also
known as ___________.

Dirty Snowball
 When will Comet Halley
become visible again in the
night sky?

2062
 What kind of force make
meteoroids to burn as it pass
through the atmosphere?

Friction
What causes the comet’s tail to
points away from the sun

Solar wind and

radiation pressure
Who discovered the comet
Hale-Bopp?

Alan Hale and

Thomas Bopp
It is the main body of comet

nucleus
It is a space between and
among planets

Interplanetary space
Andromeda and Milky
Way are forms of
__________________

galaxy
It is the nearest star to
our planet

sun
Let’s evaluate your learning…
A HEAVENLY BODY THAT IS
DESCRIBED BEFORE AS A
“STAR WITH A TAIL” BY
EARLY FOLKS.
These are space rocks that orbit around
the sun.
These are rock from space
that hits the surface of
the earth.
It is the largest known
asteroid in space.
These are fragments of
comets or asteroids in
space.
Hale-Bopp comet will be
seen again after how
many years?
The maximum length of
the tail of a comet.
The scientific term for
the“shooting star” or
“falling star.”
 According to scientists, what
could have caused the extinction
of the dinosaurs?
The acronym NASA means…
 Asteroid belt is located
between the planets _______
and ___________.
Part of a comet that always
points away from the sun.
Halley’s comet reappears every
how many years?
Metals, silicate, iron, nickel and
carbon are components of what
space object?
When was Hale – Bopp Comet
was discovered?
Name at least three famous
comets
When was the asteroid Ceres
was discovered?
There are how many known
asteroids in the asteroid belt
with a diameter of 1 km?
The Hale-Bopp comet was first
seen outside the orbit of what
planet?
What is the average diameter
of a comet’s coma?
A comet’s nucleus is also
known as ___________.
 When will Comet Halley
become visible again in the
night sky?
 What kind of force make
meteoroids to burn as it pass
through the atmosphere?
What causes the comet’s tail to
points away from the sun
Who discovered the comet
Hale-Bopp?
It is the main body of comet
It is a space between and
among planets
Andromeda and Milky
Way are forms of
__________________
It is the nearest star to
our planet