Difference Between Asteroids,Comets and Meteors?

Hello Everyone!

This would be my first post as a blogger and I am very much thrilled to write something that I know well (I guess??). Eventually all my feature blogs will come from; reading books, blogs, newspaper, magazines, novels, papers etc. So some of you may find my information already read by or something like that. But I will try to give you some extra knowledge/information that you may find different. now a days there are so many ways to collect information, but someone can find it difficult to explore all the database. Here I will try my best to give you information that will benefit you in any aspect of life.

One reason for taking this topic was, few days ago I and my child witness ( I don't know how many of you watch that??) natures magical phenomenon in sky: The Meteor Shower.

My child was very frightened to see that because he thought that if there is shower/fire like event in the sky, so we all will be dead or get vanished like dinosaurs, and why my father is insisting me to come along with him in the night, shouldn't we hide somewhere safe!!!!

So I had to convinced him lot, to come with me and so that I can explain him the event.

Asteroids (Planetoids) are nothing but small sometimes big heavenly bodies made up of rock, ice & metal  which moves around the sun like the planets. Most of the time they go around the sun in the asteroid belt. 

Asteroid     

Comets like Halley's comet, which has been sighted many times in the sky, are small heavenly bodies. they are characterized by a different orbit and a bright glowing tail. 

Comet

Meteorites are cosmic chunks of rock. when they enter the atmosphere, impact pressure causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. They may occur very frequently.

Meteor shower

WHAT IS THE ASTEROID BELT?

The asteroid belt is the space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In this area, billions of small rocky heavenly revolve around the sun, which are known as asteroids. The belt stretches only a few kilometers across. The asteroids originated probably at the same time as the planets. Possibly they are the remains of an 'unsuccessful attempt' to build planet. Since they are very small, the asteroids can be thrown out of their orbit by a small collision. they can then fall on Mars or on the Earth.  

WHY DO COMETS HAVE TAILS?

Unlike the rocky and dusty asteroids, the comet are made up of a mixture of rock, dust and ice. This is why astronomers also call it a ' dirty snowball'. When the comet get close to the sun, the ice evaporates and forms a cover of gas and dust around the comet. This is blown away by the solar wind, a stream of electrically charged particles, so that it gives rise to a long tail. This is also known as the coma. 

Halley's comet mostly shines brightly and can be seen with the naked eyes when it is very close to the earth. The last time this natural spectacle was seen in 1986. The comet is named after Edmund Halley who in 1696 declared that the comets viewed in the years 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the same. Its oval orbit around the sun brings it back to the Earth every 76 years.

Structure of Halley's Comet explained.

WHY DO WE SEE SHOOTING STAR?

Shooting stars occurs especially when the earth in its orbit passes through a pile of debris of small rocky particle. Such 'heaps' are present near the orbit of comets because, after all, the coma of the comets partly consist of dust, and thus leaves behind a kind of 'dust -track' and when the Earth crosses this track we can see the meteors.

At this time, upto 110 shooting stars can be seen every hour. Another such meteor shower takes place in November, when the Earth passes through the fragments of the comet Temple-Tuttle. This shower is known as Leonides.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A METEORITE HITS THE EARTH?

Meteorites fall on the Earth at ultrasonic speeds and leave behind craters, which are often 20 times bigger than the meteorite itself. Upon their impact, the rock is whirled up from the surface or melted and changed. 

The meteorite itself evaporates. Only very large meteorites remain intact, such as the Hobe meteorite weighing 60 tons, which hit the Earth in 1920 in Namibia. Giant meteorites can throw up so much dust that the climate changes. Such a meteorite probably led to the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. 

Lonar Crater in Lonar, Maharashtra, India, is believed to be a result of a meteorite impact that occurred around 50,000 years ago.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

� The SHIVA CRATER, a sea floor structure located beneath the Indian ocean , west of  Mumbai, India, was formed by a 40 km wide asteroid around 65 million years ago? It is named Shiva after the Hindu god of destruction ans renewal.

� The tail of the comets is often millions of kilometers long?



Bhadul Bharkade
Blogger