ERTH 2415 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Perseids, Near-Earth Object, Cosmic Dust
26 Apr 2016
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Meteor: an impact entering the earth"s atmosphere and becoming incandescent because of friction. Which are small rocky body"s orbiting the sun. Jupiter creates a gravity that is so big that planets could not stick together and become full planets. So therefore there are only pieces of rock (asteroids). Ceres is a very large asteroid that is large enough to be considered a dwarf planet. Collisions between asteroids in the belt send a few fragments to impact the earth. Asteroids cross the orbits of earth or mars. Only 1/1000 the number or asteroids found in the main belt. There are two classes of near- earth asteroids: These two types cross over earths orbit and therefore are dangerous even though they are less abundant that the asteroids in the belt. Comet: small object composed of ice and rock debris moving through outer space. They spend most of the time away from the sun. Material dispersed too thinly for planet formation.
