Asteroids, Comets & Meteors - NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system’s small bodies – asteroids, comets, and meteors – pack big surprises. These chunks of rock, ice, and metal are leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.
In Depth | Asteroids - NASA Solar System Exploration
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors. In Depth Introduction. Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. The current known asteroid count is: .
In Depth | Perseids – NASA Solar System Exploration
The Comet. The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the Sun once. It was Giovanni Schiaparelli who realized in 1865 that this comet was the source of the Perseids. Comet Swift-Tuttle last visited the inner solar system in 1992.
Why Comets Are Important - NASA Solar System Exploration
2000年6月7日 — Comets Are Important Because They . . . * May be the oldest, most primitive bodies in the solar system preserving the earliest record of material from the nebula which formed the sun and the planets. * Bring volatile light elements to the planets, playing a role in forming oceans and atmospheres.
The Usual Suspects: a Rogues Gallery of Asteroids, Comets and …
2018年11月15日 — There are likely billions of potential comets in the solar system. Astronomers discover new ones all the time. Some comets spend most of their time relatively close to the Sun, completing an orbit in less than 200 years, like Halley’s …
In Depth | 1P/Halley – NASA Solar System Exploration
Halley is often called the most famous comet because it marked the first time astronomers understood comets could be repeat visitors to our night skies. Astronomers have now linked the comet's appearances to observations dating back more than 2,000 years.
up for in style: meteoroids can produce spectacular meteor showers, asteroid impacts can shape the topography of planets, and one of nature’s most breathtaking phenomena can be a comet sporting a long, elegant tail.
In Depth | 2P/Encke – NASA Solar System Exploration
Comet Encke has the shortest orbital period of any known comet within our solar system. Encke last reached perihelion (closest approach to the sun) in 2015. Comet Enke is the parent comet of the Taurid meteor stream.
In Depth | Earth's Moon – NASA Solar System Exploration
With too sparse an atmosphere to impede impacts, a steady rain of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets strikes the surface of the Moon, leaving numerous craters behind. Tycho Crater is more than 52 miles (85 kilometers) wide.