Smaller Bodies in the Solar System

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Smaller Bodies in the Solar System
By Kynsey Creel
http//www.agdesktop.com/wallpapers\space\stars\st
ar-0005.jpg
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Topics

• Asteriod Belt
• Pictures
• History of Discovery
• Kuiper Belt
• Theories
• Comets
• Meteoroids
• Meteors
• Merteorites
• The Difference Between the three

http//www.astronomy.com/asy/objects/images/hubble
-galaxy-silhouettejpg.jpg
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The Asteroid Belt

• The Main Belt
• Located roughly between Mars and Jupiter
• Comprised of asteroids and minor planets
• Half the mass in 4 bodies
• Ceres (smallest Dwarf Planet) 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas,
  10 Hygiea
• Diameter more than 400 m
• Smallest bodies range down to dust particles
• Asteroids can be classified by spectra
• carbonaceous (C-type), Silicate (S-type),
  Metal-rich (M-type)

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http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3
/InnerSolarSystem-en.png
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http//2.bp.blogspot.com/__e2VLp6gwyk/SUaIeuNzilI/
AAAAAAAABm8/wu2sJGWesPE/s320/275px-PallasHST2007.j
pg
http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc
/Ceres_optimized.jpg
2 Pallas
Ceres
10 Hygiea
4 Vesta
http//www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/gallery/Vest
a.jpg
http//4.bp.blogspot.com/_5PcuUnvp1a4/SfzS3GYRNyI/
AAAAAAAAAW0/warXj5RyD4w/s400/hygiea.jpg
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History of Observations

• In 1800 astronomer Franz Xaver von Zach assembled
  the Celestial Police
• Searching for the missing planet between mars
  and Jupiter
• Based off Predictions by Johann Daniel
  Titius vonWittenburg
• In 1801 Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the planet
  Ceres
• William Herschel categorized Ceres and the other
  dwarf planets as asteroids , star like

Giuseppe Piazzi
http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92
/Giuseppe_Piazzi.jpg
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Kuiper Belt

• Lays outside Neptunes orbit
• Similar to Asteroid belt except much larger
• Comprised of frozen volatiles
• Methane, ammonia, water (ice)
• Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
• Discovered in 1992 after the discovery of Pluto
  (might not be alone)

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http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81
/Outersolarsystem_objectpositions_labels_comp.png
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History and Theories
http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b
/GerardKuiper.jpg

• Fredrick Leonard First Astronomer to suggest
  outer Neptunian bodies
• Kenneth Edgeworth hypothesized that the region
  beyond Neptune was too widely spaced for Planets
• Gerard Kuiper suggested a disk outside Neptune

Gerard Kuiper
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Comets

• Small Solar System bodies that orbit the sun
• Orbital periods take up to hundreds of thousands
  of years
• Short period comets originate in the Kuiper Belt
• Thrown out of the belt by gravitational pulls
• Coma (fuzzy atmosphere) and a tail
• Ice, dust, rocky particles
• Range from a few km- 10 km across
• 3,648 known comets (increasing)

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http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileComet-Hale-Bopp-
29-03-1997_hires_adj.jpg
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File060227comet.jpg
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File17pHolmes_071104
_eder_vga.jpg
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileJupiter_showing_
SL9_impact_sites.jpg
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Meteoroids/Meteors/Meteorites

• Meteoroids- sand (micrometeoroids) to boulder
  size, part of meteor showers
• Orbit the sun at various velocities
• Collide with Earth if in retrograde motion at
  speeds 70km/s
• Meteoroids that enter earths atmosphere are
  meteors
• Meteors that reach Earths surface are meteorites

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http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileIMG_8505n3.JPG
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http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileMeteor_burst.jpg
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Summary
Asteroid Belt/Main Belt Mars and
Jupiter Discovery by Guiseppe Piazzi Kuiper
Belt theories behind it (Gerard
Kuiper) Comets Meteoroids/Meteors/Meteorites
http//jzholloway.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/jupi
termilkyway070108-sb-1b.jpg
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The End
Complements to wiki