AST101H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Meteoroid, Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud
Document Summary
Meteoroids are objects orbiting the sun that are too small to observe. Sizes are from ~1m down to less than 1 mm. Speeds are >10 km/s and faster, much faster than a bullet. When they hit earth, the friction with our atmosphere heats and vaporizes them, creating a meteor = shooting star , alerting us to their existence. If a meteoroid is large enough to reach the ground without being completely vaporized, it is called a meteorite. Meteorites can be collected and taken into a lab for analysis. One type of meteorite is made of silicate compounds = stony meteorites. Some, called chondrites , contain small grains indicating they have not been heated very strongly. Some are even more primitive: and contain matter rich in carbon, indicating they have had almost no heating. They evan contain amino acids that are necessary for life. Another type of meteorite is made of iron.
