PPT Slide
The Solar System: Minor Bodies
There is a lot of debris in the solar system, including meteoroids, asteroids and comets …………
Asteroids: A small planetary body composed mostly of rock or metals; most orbit in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. All known asteroids have diameters less than 1,000 km. Lower size limit often taken to be about 10 m.
Many unaltered since their formation - give clues to Solar System formation
Meteoroids: A small, extraterrestrial, solid body. Term usually used for bodies smaller than a kilometer, and frequently millimeters, in size. Objects destined to become meteors.
Comets: An ice-rich planetesimal that can emit an observable gaseous halo when its ice is warmed by the Sun. Most comets spend their time in the outer Solar System, making it difficult to distinguish them from normal asteroids.