8

Science
Quarter 2 - Module 5
Comets, Meteors, and
Asteroids

_________________________________
Learner

__________________________________
Section

ALIMAH L. AMER, LPT

Teacher

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Parent or Guardian

RUTH MANION BABAO MEMORIAL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

School

March 1, 2021
Date of Retrieval
 (Pre-test)

Direction: For each item, encircle the letter of the correct answer.
1. The primary chemical constituent of comets is
A. water C. methane
B. nitrogen D. carbon dioxide
2. A meteor shower occurs when A. a meteor is about to get married
B. the earth passes through the asteroid belt
C. the head of a comet hits the earth’s atmosphere
D. the earth passes through a swarm of dust particles in space, the remnants of a
comet, once a year
3. A meteorite is:
A. a rock from space that strikes the ground
B. a piece of rock passing through the earth’s atmosphere
C. the trail left by a piece rock as it passes through the earth’s atmosphere
D. all of the above
4. Most of the asteroids orbit the sun in a belt between the orbits of
A. Venus and Mars C. Mars and Jupiter
B. Mars and Earth D. Jupiter and Saturn
5. The asteroids are
A. miniature planets C. pockets of gas in the solar system
B. satellites of planets D. planets orbiting the stars other than the sun
6. Comet tails are the result of
A. interplanetary material streaming into the comet
B. melting and evaporation of ice from the comet core
C. dust collected by the comet as it moves in its orbit
D. solar wind blowing more gases from the central comet core
7. Why are meteorites and comets important in studying the origin of the solar system? A.
They have recently formed themselves.
B. They are recently produced fragments of planets.
C. They represent the material that formed the planets.
D. None of the above
8. The orbits of most comets, which we see in the inner solar system A. are nearly circular
C. never come closer to the sun
B. are highly elliptical D. are only slightly inclined to the earth’s orbit
9. Most meteoroids are formed when
A. comets melted C. asteroids exploded or collided
B. volcanoes erupted D. satellites exploded or collided
10. Meteors are
A. falling stars
B. signals from the other worlds
C. solar wind particles captured by the earth’s magnetic field
D. luminous trails left by small extraterrestrial particles rapidly passing
Objective: After doing all the activities, the students will be able to compare and
contrast comets, meteors, and asteroids.

Comets

Ever since people know already about comets. You may ask your grandparents about
comets, and they might tell you some superstitions about comets bring bad luck! Why?
Because there are people who believed that comets were bad spirits that look like the
appearance of a woman with a head and its long hair behind. To some ancestors, this was
an old-time sign of mourning. To other people, the appearance of a comet as a sword, a sign
of war, death, and famine.

Figure 1. Images of a meteor

(www.space.com)

A characteristic of a comet is a fuzzy, luminous big dirty snowball composed of rock

dust wrapped around a big ball of ice. This charming sight in the sky is moving very slowly
but remain in our sight for weeks before disappearing out of view. A comet enters a huge
elliptical orbit. Every time the comet travels closer to the sun, it may lose some of its material.
However, when it comes back to the place part of the solar system, it slowly appears smaller
and gloomy until it disappears completely. In some events, the characteristic of a comet may
have a solid and rocky core for it to continue traveling around its orbit as a dark barren
asteroid.
Comets do not give energy and light therefore, it is not visible. But as it travels closer
to the sun, the comet becomes clear because the heat of the sun melts the ice of the comet
and turns it to gas. This gas becomes the coma, which envelopes and hides the nucleus from our
view. One part of the comet is the so-called head. It is composed of a nucleus and coma. It
becomes bigger as more gas and dust are released from the coma. The solar wind blows
more and more gas from the coma causing it to form a tail, which in some comets, can reach
up to 150 million kilometers in length!
 Figure 2 shows the parts of a comet (www.solarsystem.nasa.gov.earth)

Most comets are thought to originate from a huge cloud called the Oort cloud, which
is too far away for astronomers to see.

Figure 3. Halley’s Comet (www.solarsystem.nasa.gov.earth)

One of the most unique short-period comets is the Halley’s Comet because it has an
average orbital period of fewer than 200 years, Halley’s Comet appears once every 76
years. Because most other comets are long-period comets that can take up to a million years
to orbit the sun. Hale-Bopp comet is an example of long-period comets.
Based on the study there is no clear evidence showing that a comet has ever hit into
the earth. But some scientists claimed that comet is one of the main possible reasons that
explain the extinction of dinosaurs million years ago. They hypothesized that a large comet
entered into the earth and caused a massive distraction like earthquakes, tsunami which
later on caused the changes in the temperature and climate and eventually wiped out
dinosaurs.

Meteors
You can ask your parents and other family members about a falling star? What is a
falling star? Can you catch it? Will it fit in your pocket?
Another known celestial object in the solar system is the meteors. They are dust and
ice from the pathway of comets. Meteors are stone-like but made up of several minerals and
rich in silicon and oxygen, “iron”, consisting mainly of iron and nickel, or “stony-iron”, a
combination of the two.
 When meteors travel through the layer of the earth's atmosphere friction caused
them to heats up, and then the meteor’s surface starts to warm up and flare. That's the time
the heat and high speed combine to vaporize the meteor usually high above Earth’s surface.
Many people considered meteor as a falling star or shooting star. It will happen when a
meteoroid is passing through the Earth’s atmosphere and heats up in the process.
You can differentiate an asteroid and a meteor through their characteristics, an
asteroid is a small rocky object that travels around the Sun. A meteor will occur when a tiny
piece of an asteroid or comet, which is known as a meteoroid, flare-up upon traveling Earth’s
atmosphere.

Figure 2. Meteors (www.accuweather.com)

The observable light emitted by a meteor may take on various colors, depending on
the chemical composition of the meteoroid, and the speed of its movement through the
atmosphere.
Color of meteors are depending on the relevant influence of the metallic
content of the meteoroid and the super-heated air plasma, which its track produces:
• Orange-yellow (sodium)  Violet (calcium)
• Yellow (iron)  Red (atmospheric nitrogen
• Blue-green (magnesium) and oxygen)

MORE INTERESTING METEOR FACTS

• There are millions of meteors in the Earth’s atmosphere

every day.
• Meteors can become visible as high as 120 kilometers above Earth.
• Meteors can give off various colors when they burn which is associated with their
composition.
• Meteors that burn brighter than usual are called fireballs.
• Most fireballs go unseen because they occur over the ocean or during daylight
hours.
• Meteors usually burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
• If a meteor produces a sound, called a sonic boom, it is typically heard seconds
after the meteor becomes visible.
• Although meteors have existed since ancient times, they were not believed to be
from our solar system until 1833.
• Usually, meteors are the size of pebbles and no larger than a baseball.

Asteroids
Another fascinating object in the solar system are the asteroids, they simply
rocky or metallic objects orbiting the sun in the same way that planets orbit.
However, asteroids are hard to see because they are reflecting little light and they
are always moving. No asteroids have an atmosphere.
Asteroids come in all sizes and shapes. Some asteroids that are tiny as
pebbles and some are as big as mountains. And because they are smaller than
planets, they are often called minor planets or planetoids. Ceres is the largest of the
asteroids. It is about 930 kilometers in diameter. Can you imagine how huge that is?
Like any other big rock, they can be potato-shaped, papaya-shaped, or have strange
shapes!

Figure 1.Asteroids (www.space.com)

There many asteroids orbiting the sun in a region between Mars and Jupiter. This
area is called the asteroid belt. They are following a slightly elliptical path as they orbit the
sun in the same direction as the planets.
A larger object such as a planet could be pulled an asteroid out of orbit. And once an
asteroid is captured by the gravitational pull of a planet, it may become a satellite of that
planet. Many astronomers believe that the two satellites of Mars, Phobos, and
Deimos, are captured asteroids.

If it is not because of the giant planet Jupiter that pulls the asteroids outward,
large asteroids would constantly be hitting Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth. I hope
you still remember those inner planets that you learned from your previous module.
You already learned that the belt is closer to Jupiter than it is to the sun, Jupiter
exerts more gravitational pull on the asteroids than the sun. Resulting in the
asteroids to keep in orbit away from the inner planets.
Summary

Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors are also considered as celestial objects that
orbit around the sun. They come in different sizes and shapes. Asteroids follow a
slightly elliptical orbit, a comet is a fuzzy, luminous big dirty snowball composed of
rock dust wrapped around a big ball of ice. Comet has three parts the nucleus, head,
and tail. Meteor is a piece of a stony or metallic object which all travels in space and
all has a great impact on the earth when reaches the earth’s surface.

Assessment (Post-Test)
Direction: For each item, encircle the letter of the correct answer.
1. Most of the asteroids orbit the sun in a belt between the orbits of
A. Venus and Mars C. Jupiter and Saturn
B. Mars and Earth D. Mars and Jupiter
2. The primary chemical constituent of comets is
A. water C. methane
B. nitrogen D. carbon dioxide
3. A meteorite is
A. a rock from space that strikes the ground
B. a piece of rock passing through the earth’s atmosphere
C. the trail left by a rock as it passes through the earth’s atmosphere
D. all of the above
4. A meteor shower occurs when A. a meteor is about to get married
B. the earth passes through the asteroid belt
C. the head of a comet hits the earth’s atmosphere
D. the earth passes through a swarm of dust particles in space, the remnants of a
comet, once a year
5. The asteroids are
A. miniature planets C. pockets of gas in the solar system
B. B. satellites of planets D. planets orbiting the stars other than the sun
6. Why are meteorites and comets important in studying the origin of the solar system? A.
They have recently formed themselves.
B. They are recently produced fragments of planets.
C. They represent the material that formed the planets.
D. none of the above
7. Comet tails are the result of
A. interplanetary material streaming into the comet
B. melting and evaporation of ice from the comet core
C. dust collected by the comet as it moves in its orbit
D. solar wind blowing more gases from the central comet core
8. Meteors are
A. falling stars
B. signals from the other worlds
 C. solar wind particles captured by the earth’s magnetic field
D. luminous trails left by small extraterrestrial particles rapidly passing through the air
9. The orbits of most comets, which we see in the inner solar system
A. are nearly circular C. never come closer to the sun
B. are highly elliptical D. are only slightly inclined to the earth’s orbit
10. The first satellite to discover a comet was/were
A. Mariner 2 C. Hubble Telescopes
B. Vikings 1 and 2 D. Infrared Astronomical Satellite

ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST
Quarter 2 - Module 5 Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids
(To be accomplished by a parent or a guardian)
Check (√) the appropriate observation that corresponds to your child’s performance
in accomplishing the activities.
OBSERVATION
Accomplished

accomplished

accomplished
Parent’s

Partially
/Guardian’s

Fully
Not

Comments or
Bases for assessment Suggestions

Activity 1
The learner was able to answer
the pre-test given.

Activity 2
The learner was able to answer
the Post- test Assessment.

________________________________________
Name and Signature of Parent or Guardian