By Sara Thompson
Special to the Enterprise
Looking at the night sky is a common pastime of people around the world. Classifying and naming celestial objects is important for scientists to be able to study space. A few of those classifications are asteroids, comets, and meteors, but what is the difference between all of these seemingly similar objects flying though our solar system?
An asteroid is classified as a rocky object that orbits around the Sun. They can range in size from one meter in diameter to almost 1000km in diameter! Some are large enough to also be classified as a dwarf planet. They can be separated into three groups: C-type, or carbonaceous, meaning they are carbon based, M-type, or metallic, are metal based, and S-type, or silicaceous, are silica based.
A comet also orbits around the Sun but differs from a meteor by instead of being made of rock, they are made of ice and dust. Solar wind and radiation exert force on the comet causing dust and gas to be released and this forms the famous comet feature, the ‘tail’. Comet tails will always point away from the Sun in its orbit around it. Comets have an eccentric elliptical orbit, and have a wide range of orbital periods, meaning some can be seen every couple of years, and others only appearing every million years or more!
Meteoroids are similar to asteroids in that they are made of rocky or metallic materials, but they are considerably smaller. Meteoroids are objects smaller than one meter in diameter, down to only a pebble size. Meteoroids that enter the Earth’s atmosphere are meteors. Meteors usually burn and break up in the atmosphere, but if they survive, they are then called meteorites and are collected by rock enthusiasts around the world.
Campers at this week's Out of This World! camp learned about space with hands-on activities and experiments, including asteroids, comets, and meteors. They also studied our Solar System, discovering the unique features of each planet, made a human sundial, learned about constellations, and even experimented with dry ice!
Exploit's coming events:
• Explorit will be closed from Saturday, August 20-Friday September 2 for the installation of our next exhibit. Grand Opening of our new exhibit is Saturday, September 3rd, from 10am-2pm.
• Last chances to see “Healthy Planet, Healthy You” are in the next few weekends on Fridays from 1-4pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am-2pm. Admission is $5 per person. Explorit Members, ASTC, and those age 2 and under free. Masks strongly encouraged while indoors.
• We are honored and excited that we have been chosen to participate in a special charitable giving campaign, sponsored and funded by Target. And you have the chance to help direct a portion of Target’s donation to us! Now through September 30th, vote for us through the Target Circle program to help determine how Target’s donation will be divvied up. Find out more about Target Circle here: www.target.com/circle
• A Membership to Explorit grants the recipient free visits to Explorit’s regular public hours, discounts on events, summer camps and workshops, and gives you ASTC benefits to visit other museums throughout the world. To purchase or for more information visit https://www.explorit.org/membership or call Explorit at 530-756-0191.
• Now is a great time to donate and help Explorit continue to educate and inspire the scientists of tomorrow: https://www.explorit.org/donate.
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