Asteroid Ida: the asteroid with its own moon
Comets are often referred to as dirty snowballs
Almost everyone has heard about asteroids and comets and what they could do to earth if they hit it. But do you know all the facts? Do you know the true power these killer rocks possess? If not you’ll learn from this document.
Asteroid Ida: the asteroid with its own moon
Comets are often referred to as dirty snowballs
What is a comet?
A comet is a ball of ice, gas and dirt orbiting the Sun because of its gravitational pull. The reason we can see comets from earth is when they pass near the sun they develop a glowing head and a long tail. Not all comets orbit the sun. Only the ones we can see without a telescope do.
What is an asteroid?
An asteroid is a chunk of rock that orbits the Sun or a planet. These are hard to spot because they look like tiny stars.
What is the difference between a meteorite, a meteor and a meteoroid?
A meteoroid is a chunk of space debris that was left behind by a passing asteroid or comet. A meteor is a streak of light you see when a meteoroid burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere. A meteorite is a meteoroid that survives the fall through our atmosphere and land on Earth.
Meteoroids falling through space
A meteor burning up in our atmosphere
The Arizona meteor Crater is 570 feet in depth. The crater rim measures up to 1.2 miles in diameter. This crater was caused by a nickel-iron asteroid approximately 100 feet in diameter. Did you know that the Tunguska fireball traveled through space and exploded before reaching the ground knocking down miles of forest? These are just 2 of the encounters Earth has had with these killer rocks and they look the worst encounters that could happen but, if a comet or asteroid big enough hits Earth it could destroy it.
What will happen if a comet or asteroid big enough hits the Earth?
As said and known it would destroy Earth if big enough, but the chances of that event happening is about once in every 10-million years. The odds may seem impossible but there is a chance of that still happening. Scientists have did a study to shown the power of these killer rocks and found out that a 7 ft. object can produce a 1- kiloton blast.
