Other than the sun, planets, and

moon, what other objects are

found in the Solar System?
In this lesson, we are
going to be comparing comets,
meteors, and asteroids which
are found
in the Solar System.
 Essential Question:
What is the difference between a comet,
meteor,
and asteroid?

Standard S6E1f. Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.

Comets
• Made of ice, rock, and other organic materials. Sometimes called a
dirty snowball
• Has Nucleus, coma, and two tails (dust and ion/plasma tail)
• Nucleus is actual body of rock and ice; varies in size, and ranges
from .5 to 25 miles across
• Coma is gas and dust that surrounds nucleus like an
atmosphere
• Ion tail is charged gasses, and dust tail is mixture of dust and
gas from nucleus breaking down. Both tails can be many
millions of miles long. Ion tail glows fluorescently, and dust tail
reflects light from sun.
• Usually easier to see dust tail. Both tails always point away from
sun. This is due to solar wind.
• Comets come from either the Oort cloud or the Kuiper belt. The
Kuiper belt is closer than the Oort cloud. Comets that come from
the Kuiper belt have orbits that take less than 200 years to orbit
the sun. Comets that come from the Oort cloud take more than
200 years to orbit the sun.
Asteroids
• Rocky or metallic (sometimes a combination)
bodies that orbit the Sun. Metals are Iron and
nickel.
• Sometimes called minor planets or planetoids—
doesn’t have an atmosphere
• Size can range from a small pebble to hundreds of
miles wide
• Largest known has a diameter of more than 500
miles—named Ceres discovered by Piazzi in 1801.
• Ceres is now considered a dwarf planet as well
as an Asteroid
• Most found in asteroid belt between Mars and
Jupiter
• Thought to be left over from formation of universe
 
 
 
Meteors
 
• Fragments of comets, asteroids, moons, or planets that have
broken off
• Sometimes called shooting stars
• Meteor showers usually occur when Earth passes through a
comets orbit
• Most meteors are about the size of a match head, but they can
be as big across as a mile
• If a meteor is able to get past the Earth’s atmosphere and
impact the Earth it is called a meteorite. Meteorites actually
hit the earth’s surface.
• We also have what are called Meteoroids. They are similar to
asteroids because they are “floating” out in space. They
don’t burn up in our atmosphere, and don’t hit Earth’s surface.
They just travel around the solar system.
 
Assessment
1. A is the…
a. coma. c. Nucleus.
b. dust tail.
 
2. B is the…
 
a. coma. c. Nucleus.
b. dust tail.
3. C is the…
 
a. coma. c. Nucleus.
b. dust tail.

4. Comets coming from this area are coming from outside the orbit of Neptune
to six billion miles from Sun.
 
a. Oort Cloud b. Kuiper Belt
5. Comets coming from this area are coming from one light-year (six trillion
miles) from Sun.

a. Oort Cloud b. Kuiper Belt

6. Comets can only be seen using a telescope. They are never visible to the
naked eye.
 
a. True b. False

7. Asteroids are found in the…

 
a. Asteroid Belt c. Oort Cloud
b. Kuiper Belt

8. Asteroids are composed of…

 
a. rocks and ice. c. rocky material.
b. rocky materials and iron.

9. Asteroids are irregular objects.

 
a. True b. False

10. The largest asteroid is about _____ miles in diameter. (The answer is a
number.)
Match the term with its definition.

_____11. Meteor A. A rocky body that is found in outer

  space, moving around the Solar
_____12. Meteorite System.
   
_____13. Meteoroid B. The rocky body when it enters the
Earth’s atmosphere. It looks like a
streak in the sky; it lasts about a
second or two.
 
C. The rocky body if it is large enough
to hit the surface of a planet.
 Picture A Picture C

Picture C

_____14. Picture A A. Asteroid

   
_____15. Picture B B. Comet
   
_____16. Picture C C. Meteorite
THE SUN
The sun is composed of gas. It has no solid surface.
However, it still has a defined structure. The three
major structural areas of the sun are shown in the
upper half of

Figure 1. They include:

• Core -- The center of the sun, comprising 25
percent of its radius.
• Radiative zone --The section immediately
surrounding the core, comprising 45 percent of its
radius.
• Convective zone -- The outermost ring of the sun,
comprising the 30 percent of its radius.
Above the surface of the sun is its atmosphere,
which consists of three parts, shown in the lower
half of Figure 1:

• Photosphere -- The innermost part of the sun's

atmosphere and the only part we can see.
• Chromosphere -- The area between the
photosphere and the corona; hotter than the
photosphere.
• Corona -- The extremely hot outermost layer,
extending outward several million miles from the
chromosphere.
Our Solar System
By the end of this lesson, YOU will be able to:
• Identify the 8 phases of the moon.
• Explain how the movements of the Earth and
moon create different moon phases observed
by humans on Earth.

Lesson Vocabulary
Orbit Illuminate
The Learning Plan
lunar eclipse 1. BrainPop Video: Moon Phases
Waxing Waning 2. Song: Phases of the Moon Rap
Crescent Gibbous
3. Moon Phases Demonstration
New moon
Full moon 4. Group & Partner Activities
 Essential Question
How do the movements of
the Sun, Earth and moon
affect the patterns
observed by humans on
Earth?
 Notebook Quick Write
True or False
Is the moon a light source? Explain your
answer.

Why does the moon look like it changes?

BrainPop: Moon Phases
BrainPop: Moon Phases
Odds: Are the
phases of the moon
caused by Earth
casting shadows on
the moon?

Evens: Why do we
always see the same
side of the moon?
Why does the moon have phases?
•The revolution of the Moon around
the Earth causes the Moon to appear
to have phases.
•It takes 29.5 days for the moon to
make a complete circuit around the
Earth.
Lunar Eclipses

Lunar Eclipses happen

when the sun, Earth
and moon are
completely lines up in a
row, and the Earth ends
up blocking the rays of
the sun from reaching
the moon. (VERY RARE)
8 Phases of the Moon

•New Moon •Full Moon

•Waxing Crescent •Waning Gibbous

•First Quarter or Half •Last Quarter or Half

Moon Moon

•Waxing Gibbous •Waning Crescent

New Moon

•The moon is not visible from

Earth. The moon is between
the Sun and the Earth.

•The dark side is facing us.

•This phase lasts one night.

Waxing Crescent
•Waxing means that the bright
side is increasing. The right
side is the bright side.

•Less than one half of the

moon is illuminated.

•This phase includes any visible

moon from a small sliver to
almost half.
First Quarter or Half Moon
•The entire right side of the
moon is illuminated.

•The moon looks like a half

circle.

•The illuminated side is

increasing.

•This phase only lasts one

night.
Waxing Gibbous
•Gibbous means that more
than one half is visible, but it is
not quite full.

•This phase includes the night

after the first quarter to the
night before the full moon.
Full Moon
•The moon is full and bright. It
looks like a large circle.

•The illuminated side is facing

us.

•Only happens one night per

lunar phase cycle.
Waning Gibbous
•The moon appears more than
half but not quite full.

•Waning means that the

illuminated side is decreasing.

•The left side is the bright side.

Last Quarter or Half
Moon
•Left Half of the moon is
illuminated.

•The illuminated side is

decreasing.

•This phase also only lasts for

one night.
Waning Crescent

•Less than one half of the

moon is illuminated.

•The moon will continue to

become smaller and smaller.
Moon Phases Group & Partner Activities
#1 GROUP ACTIVITY Hint!
Task: Work together to
create an accurate
visual model of the 8
phases of the moon
using the cookies.
Be sure to include: #2 PARTNER ACTIVITY
• The sun Task: Use the 2014
• The earth Moon Calendar to
• The 8 phases of the answer the questions
moon on the worksheet.
• Labels for each
Teamwork Behaviors
 Everyone Participates
Explaining Your
Thinking
Completes Tasks
Moon Phases Group & Partner Activities
#1 GROUP ACTIVITY Hint!
Task: Work together to
create an accurate
visual model of the 8
phases of the moon
using the cookies.
Be sure to include: #2 PARTNER ACTIVITY
• The sun Task: Use the 2014
• The earth Moon Calendar to
• The 8 phases of the answer the questions
moon on the worksheet.
• Labels for each
 Let’s Wrap-Up
 Share our models & check
for accuracy

Discuss the answers to the

moon calendar questions
 Homework
A 3rd grader has sent you a letter
asking you to explain why the
moon looks different almost
every night.
Write a letter to the 3 grader
rd

thoroughly explain this

phenomenon.