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)
during the Perseid Meteor Shower in Spruce Knob West Virginia 2016,
credit: NASA /Bill Ingalls
Perseid Meteor Shower
The Perseids are the most popular meteor shower as they peak on warm August nights as seen from the northern hemisphere. The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 24. They will peak on August 11-12, 2021.
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/