Asteroids, Comets, Meteors, and Meteorites
A compilation of educational materials about asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteorites
What is the difference?
- An asteroid is a rocky object that orbits the Sun. Asteroids are smaller than a planet, but they are larger than the pebble-size objects we call meteoroids.
- Comets are small icy dirtballs that orbit the Sun; comets are made of ice and dust while asteroids are made of rock).
- A meteor is a space rock—or meteoroid—that enters Earth's atmosphere, as it – burns up upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, it creating a streak of light in the sky (often called "shooting stars"). When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, we call it a meteor shower.
- If a meteoroid survives its trip through Earth’s atmosphere and lands on the Earth’s surface, it is called a meteorite.
Banner images above, left to right:
Asteroid Bennu (NASA),
Fireball Meteor over Groningen the Netherlands (Robert Mikaelyan), and Comet 67P (ESA)
Asteroid Day
- Each year on June 30th
- https://asteroidday.org/
- UN International Asteroid Day resources
NISE Network hands-on activities
Exploring the Solar System: Asteroid Mining
In this activity, learners imagine the challenges and opportunities of asteroid mining by drawing their own asteroid mining machines.
Exploring the Solar System: Craters
In this activity, learners drop objects of various sizes and shapes into a tub full of sand and other materials, to simulate the formation of a meteorite crater.
Exploring the Universe: Space Guess Quest Game
In this activity, learners play a yes-or-no question guessing game that identifies the many types of objects in space, from human-made spacecraft to nebulas, galaxies, stars, and worlds.
NASA Resources
- Introductions
- NASA Space Place resources:
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/comets/
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/asteroid
- NASA Space Place resources:
- Multimedia
- Astromaterials3D - a virtual library for exploration and research of
NASA's space rock collections including meteorites:
https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astromaterials3d/ - NASA Solar System Treks: https://trek.nasa.gov
- Asteroid Bennu Trek: https://trek.nasa.gov/bennu/
- Asteroid Vesta Trek: https://trek.nasa.gov/vesta/
- Astromaterials3D - a virtual library for exploration and research of
- Hands On Activities
-
Comet on a Stick
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/comet-on-a-stick/
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- Slide shows
- NASA What is that Space Rock slideshow
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/slideshow/whats-that-space-rock/
- NASA What is that Space Rock slideshow
Featured NASA Missions and Programs
- NASA Asteroid Watch tracks Near-Earth Object (NEO) comets and asteroids that drift close to Earth's orbital neighborhood:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch - OSIRIS-Rex traveled to near-Earth asteroid Bennu and is bringing a small sample back to Earth for study:
https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex - Psyche mission to a unique metal asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/psyche - Lucy is visiting the Trojan Asteroids which share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun:
http://lucy.swri.edu - Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) is a small CubeSat spacecraft designed to fly by and return data from a near-Earth asteroid:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/nea-scout - Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a planetary defense-driven test to change the motion of an asteroid in space:
https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/dart
Calendars to Explore the Night Sky
- New York Times astronomy events calendar and iCal/webcal link to add to iCloud, Google, or Outlook
- http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/
- https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/
- https://stardate.org/nightsky
- https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm
- https://in-the-sky.org/newscal.php
- http://earthsky.org/tonight
- American Meteor Society: https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/