RANDY L. PHELPS
This is the Debris:
Meteors,Asteroids,Comets Module
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Procedure
1. For this module, please look through the
"lecture" notes for "Debris:
Meteors, Asteroids, Comets". These notes contain the material, in condensed form,
that I will expect you to become familiar with. I am sure you will have questions
about the material, especially since it is presented in the form of lecture notes.
To help you fill in the blanks, I have added web links below and within the lecture notes
to gain further insight into select portions of the material.
2. Be sure to read Chapters 24-26 in "The
New Solar System"
3. In addition, you should investigate the
Web-links within the lecture notes.
Goals
After you have
completed this assignment, you should be comfortable with the following concepts:
What distinguishes asteroids,
meteorids and comets?
In what parts of the Solar System are
these objects found?
Why are asteroids, meteoroids and comets
of interest?
What techniques are used to learn about
asteroids, meteorids and comets?
What are the characteristics of asteroids,
meteorids and comets?
After you have
completed this assignment, you should be able to answer these, and similar questions:
Why is the study of asteroids
considered to be important?
- What is necessary to confirm the discovery
of an asteroid or a comet?
- What techniques can be used to learn about
asteroids?
- What evidence exists for the impact of
asteroids with the Earth?
- What event(s) occured as a result of
asteroid impacts with the Earth?
- Where in the Solar System is the main
concentration of asteroids?
- What are the Trojan asteroids, and where
are they located?
- Do asteroids have satellites, and if so,
why is this of interest?
- How does a study of asteroids tell us
about the satellites of Mars?
- What is the difference between meteoroids,
meteors and meteorites?
- Why is the Allende meteorite important?
- What is the Chicxulub meteor crater, and
why is it considered to be important?
- Why do meteor showers occur at the same
time of the year?
- What are the Centaur asteroids, and where
are they located?
- What is the Ooort Cloud, and where is it
located?
- What is the Kuiper belt, and where is it
located?
- What are the different regions of comets?
- What are the characteristics of the
different regions of comets?
- What are the two types of cometary tails?
- What causes a comet's tail?
The
above questions, and variants of them, will form the exam questions for this portion of
the course. It is, therefore, to your advantage to do this web-based assignment!
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