Comets and Asteroids and Meteors, Oh My!
Comets
1) Name the parts of the comet below:
!Terms: Nucleus!Coma!! Dust Tail!Ion Tail
Name: ! ! ! TG:! ! ! Learning Targets: - I can describe different objects in space.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Falling Stars
The sight of a falling star is exciting. Before you can say, “Look!” the streak is gone. You
point to where it was and ask others if they saw it, too. Often, no one else sees the
speedy flight of light flash by. You’re left trying to describe what you saw and felt. You
stare at the dark space, hoping another will streak across the sky.
What is a falling star? A falling star is not a star at all. It is not even a piece of a star.
Stars are huge balls of burning gas sending off great amounts of energy in the form of
light and heat. Stars are much bigger than our planet. Stars do not fall; they stay in
their own places in their own galaxies. Our Sun is a star.
A falling star is a meteor. Meteors are streaks of light in the sky that we can see when
a small speck of dust burns up high in the air above us. Where do these specks of dust
come from? Comets! (And, don’t forget space dirt!)
Astronomers call this dirt and comet dust “
meteoroids
.” Meteoroids are different sizes.
Some are larger. Most are tiny. Meteoroids hit the Earth’s atmosphere at super, high
speed. Sometimes it’s faster than 90,000 miles per hour. When they are in the
atmosphere, they become “
meteors
.” The meteor usually burns up. This creates the
streak of light we see. It looks like a star falling from the sky. This is why they are
called a “falling star.” Meteors usually last just a second or two.
