Overview

Comets are among the most beautiful astronomical objects in our sky, but brought fear to our ancestors when they appeared. Find out what comets are and where they come from in this lesson. What's the difference between a comet an asteroid and a meteorite? Could one of these objects really hit the Earth? You will know after streaking through the solar system with this lesson.This Course includes the following great BONUS LESSONS:What on Earth is Astronomy?Mini-Lesson: EclipsesMini-Lesson: Meteor ShowersMini-Lesson: AuroraProject Artemis: America Returns to the MoonComets, Asteroids and Meteorites1. Objective2. Warm-up activity3. General overview of large object impacts in the Solar System4. Why some objects are impacted more than others5. Atmosphere6. Erosion7. Impacts on Earth and the Moon8. Differences and similarities between asteroids, comets and meteoritesComets9. What our ancestors thought of comets and where they came from10. Where comets originate: the Oort Cloud11. Predicting comet appearances in the sky12. Edmund Halley and Halley's comet13. The meticulous tracking of comets by the Chinese14. Sublimation15. Comet composition and structure: dust tail, ion tail and nucleus16. The Kuiper Belt17. Trans-Neptunian objects18. Jupiter-family comets19. Comet naming conventions and discoveries20. The International Astronomical Union21. Comet Shoemaker and its crash into Jupiter22. Evidence of comet impacts throughout the Solar System23. Comets and the Sun24. Comet speeds25. Missions to comets26. The Rosetta mission and the Philae comet lander27. Periodic comets: long-term and short-termAsteroids28. Asteroid composition29. Asteroid missions30. The Asteroid Belt31. The asteroid moons of Mars and Jupiter32. Dwarf planets in the Asteroid Belt33. Mining asteroids for metals and minerals34. Asteroids with moons, tails and rings35. Tracking potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) and near-Earth objects (NEOs)Meteors36. Differences and similarities between meteors and meteorites37. Meteors and the Earth38. Meteorites and the Earth39. Overview of known Earth-impacts40. Meteor showers41. Test questions42. Cross-curricular activities

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