Asteroids: Microplanets 23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System An asteroid is a small, rocky body whose diameter can range from a few hundred kilometers to less than a kilometer. Most asteroids lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They have orbital periods of three to six years.
14
Embed
23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System · 23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System Tail Dust Tail: the dust tail of a comet is composed of gases and tiny dust particles blown away from
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Asteroids: Microplanets
23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System
An asteroid is a small, rocky body whose
diameter can range from a few hundred
kilometers to less than a kilometer.
Most asteroids lie between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter. They have orbital periods
of three to six years.
Irregular Orbits of Asteroids
Comets
23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System
Comets are small bodies made of rocky
and metallic pieces held together by frozen
gases. Comets generally revolve about the
sun in elongated orbits.
Parts of a Comet
23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System
Coma
• A coma is the
fuzzy, gaseous
component of a
comet’s head.
• Center (body) of the comet’s head.
Composed of ice and rocky material
Most comets ranges are from about 10 to 100 km
in diameter
Nucleus
Parts of a Comet
23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System
Tail
Dust Tail: the dust tail of a comet is composed of
gases and tiny dust particles blown away from
the nucleus as the comet is heated. The dust tail
is the most visible part of a comet.
Ion Tail: the ion tail is a stream of ionized gases
that are blown directly away from the Sun as a
result of the comet’s contact with the solar wind.
Comet’s Tail Points Away from the Sun
Comets
23.4 Minor Members of the Solar System
Kuiper Belt
• Like the asteroids in the inner solar system, most
Kuiper belt comets move in nearly circular orbits
that lie roughly in the same plane as the planets.
Oort Cloud
• Comets with long orbital periods appear to be
distributed in all directions from the sun, forming