Transcript SNC1DO Small Celestial Objects

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Diameter - 1,413 miles (2274 km) - 2/3 size of
Earth’s Moon
Rotation: 6 1/3 days
Orbit: 248 years highly elliptical
Sometimes is inside Neptune’s orbit (20 yrs)
Light from Sun takes 5.5 hours to reach it
Surface of water and methane ice, frozen nitrogen
When closer to the Sun, heat produces an
atmosphere
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Orbits a star
Round
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Not a star or a moon
“Cleared Out”/ “Dominates” its orbit
Yes
No
Very small
Very elliptical orbit
Out of plane of ecliptic
It has always been considered
a planet
Same material as Kuiper belt
objects
Found other “non-planets” that
were larger
August 24th, 2006
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Dwarf planets orbit around the Sun, but do
not dominate their orbit
There are 5 recognized dwarf planets:
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Ceres ***
Pluto ***
Haumea
Makemake
Eris
…maybe more…
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Located between Mars and
Jupiter and contain
thousands of asteroids
 Asteroids: small celestial
objects made of rock and
metal that are less than 1000
km across
 Occasionally run into Earth
and other planets
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Dirty snowballs made of ice, gas, dust and
sometimes tiny traces of organic material
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Parts of a comet:
 Nucleus: Irregularly shaped object made of rock,
dust, ice and frozen gases
 Coma: A temporary atmosphere around the
nucleus
 Tails: The dust tail reflects the Sun’s light and may
be influenced by the movement of the comet. The
Ion tail is created by solar wind reacting with
material on the comet to produce a tail that is
directed away from the comet
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Meteoroid: A lump of rock or metal smaller
than an asteroid travelling through space
Meteor: A meteoroid that has become
trapped in Earth’s gravity. Friction from
Earth’s atmosphere causes the meteor to
glow.
Meteorite: A meteor that has enough mass to
strike the surface of Earth before burning up