SCIENCE 8

Name of Learner: ______________________________ Grade Level: _________________

Section: ______________________________________ Date: _______________________

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors
Background Information for the Learners
Aside from the eight major planet and their satellites, other members of the solar system
are the asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. They are remnants of our solar system 4.6 billion
years ago.

ASTEROIDS: These are rocky fragments

that orbits around the sun.

METEOROID: It is an asteroid or a
fragment of a comet that orbits the inner
planets. It usually burns up when it enters
Earth’s atmosphere.

METEOR: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s

atmosphere and vaporizes, it becomes a
meteor, which is often called a shooting star.

METEORITE: When a fragment from the

meteoroid survives its passage through the
Earth’s atmosphere and makes it to the
ground, it is now called meteorite.

COMET: Icy bodies or objects which originates

from outer solar system, often with a coma and
tail.
Learning Competencies and Code:

Compare and contrast comets, meteors, and asteroids. (S8ES-IIag-22)

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 Activity 1: Who Am I?

Directions: Read the descriptions given and distinguish whether they are comet, asteroid, or
meteor. Put a check mark (√) on the appropriate column.

COMET ASTEROID METEOR

DESCRIPTIONS

1. I have a tail.
2. I am Ceres.
3. I was discovered by Edmund Halley.
4. I am known as shooting star.
5. I come from between Mars and Jupiter.
6. I come from Kuiper Belt and Oort cloud.
7. I am an icy body that orbits the sun.
8. They call me meteorites when I reach the
earth.
9. I am a bright streak of light in the sky and
lasts for a few seconds.
10. I am composed of silicates.

Activity 2: True or False

Directions: Read the statements below about comets, meteors and asteroids, Check (√) the
column TRUE if the given statement is correct, and put a cross (X) under the column FALSE
if it is incorrect.

STATEMENTS TRUE FALSE

1. Asteroids, comets and meteors are parts of the solar system. They
also revolve round the sun.
2. A meteoroid is a chunk of dust and ice that orbits around the sun
and slowly vaporizes as it goes near the sun.
3. Comets are often seen in the night sky as “shooting stars”.
4. When a comet is away from the sun, it has no tail.
5. Asteroid usually come from the Oort cloud which is beyond our
solar system.
6. A meteoroid usually burns up when it enters Earth’s atmosphere.
7. The tail of a comet is always directed away from the sun.
8. Halley’s comet which was discovered by Edmund Halley appears
every 86 years.
9. A meteor and a meteor shower are light phenomena; they are not
stars.
10. The orbit of an asteroid is more rounded and less elliptical than
the orbit of a comet.

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 Activity 3: Fill Me Up!

Directions. Complete the graphic organizer below by filling in the blank boxes with
appropriate words or terms to compare and contrast the shape, size and composition of
comets, asteroids and meteors.

Composition Origin
Origin

Asteroids
Solar System’s Small Comets
Bodies

Size and shape

Composition Size and shape

Meteoroids
Origin

Size and shape

Can become
Composition

Types

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 Activity 4: Describing Space Rocks

Directions: Compare and contrast comets, asteroids, and meteors using the graphic organizer
below. Write your answers on the spaces provided.
COMET ASTEROID

_______________________ Can you write some ________________________

_______________________ similarities? ________________________
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_______________________ ________________________ ________________________
__________________ ________________________ _____
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Activity 5: Myth or Fact?

In ancient Chinese book, written 300 B.C., it is explained how the arrival of comets
has caused various disasters, such as wars, the dethronement of powerful leaders,
mysterious whale deaths and a lack of vital ingredients such as salt, fish, and rice.

Directions: Choose at least three superstitions (one from the Philippines and the rest from
other countries). Do research about the superstitious beliefs on comets, asteroids, and meteors
using the needed information below. Write your answers on the correct columns.

Superstitions and
Scientific
Country beliefs on asteroids, Human Impact
Basis/Evidence
comets and meteors

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 Activity 6: Believe It or Not?

Before scientists understood meteors, ancient people came up with stories of their own
to explain their existence. Many people connected meteors or comets to the weather,
or associate it with evil or death.
Directions: Read the following selection and answer the questions below.

Meteor Shower Myths

“When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart
desires will come to you.”

These are the opening lines to the song “When You Wish Upon A Star”, written in
the 1940’s for Disney’s movie Pinnochio. The idea that meteor showers, or shooting
stars, are lucky or can grant wishes is an idea that has permeated certain cultures for
centuries. Other civilizations have attributed negative aspects, such as bad omens, with
so-called ‘falling stars’. With no way to explain these natural occurrences, ancient
cultures gave superstitious or supernatural rationalizations for these specks of falling
light in the sky. No matter what the connotation, one thing is certain – human being
are fascinated with these beautiful displays of astral light.

Many other cultures venerated these rare rocks from the heavens as well, such as
the Native Americans. Their shamans, or medicine men, sometimes wore the rocks as
sacred amulets, and passed them down through the generations. The Black Stone of
the Ka’baa is another meteorite held sacred. In Islam, Jewish, and Christian faiths, it is
believed to have been sent from Heaven to Abraham and now resides in a holy mosque
in Mecca. (Source – Sacred Mists)

The Greek philosopher Aristotle was one of the first to use science rather than
religion or myth to explain meteors. He speculated around 350BC that meteors were
akin to lightning, merely hot and dry streams of wind that had risen from the dry land
and been warmed by the sun, creating streaks
Guide of “fire” as they rose towards the
Question:
heavens. He believed that their upwards momentum created friction and caused the
particles to burst into flames. It was not until 1833 that people began to understand
that meteors were small particles in space colliding with our atmosphere. This was
around the time that Newton had discovered gravity, and scientists were beginning to
understand that the Earth was rotating very rapidly and that anything which hit the
atmosphere would be destroyed. (Source – Cambridge.org)

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 Regardless of how they are viewed, meteor showers are a sight to behold. And
perhaps mankind needs the myths and legends, the ideas of the divine or the holy,
to remind them that there is a huge world out there and that all things are fleeting.

Source: Meteor Shower Myths. Actforlibraries.org.

http://www.actforlibraries.org/meteor-shower-myths/.
Date accessed: June 17, 2020

1. Do you believe on the superstitions about meteors, comets or asteroids? Yes or No.
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2. Do superstitions about comets and asteroids have scientific basis? Explain your answer.
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REFLECTION:

Directions: Complete the statements below based on your understanding about comets,
meteors and asteroids.

1. I learned that
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2. I enjoyed most on
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3. I want to learn more on

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