Category Archives: Small SS Objects

includes asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects, comets

All About Comets

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

In popular media, comets are often depicted as huge balls of fire streaking across the sky. See Sozin’s Comet from Avatar the Last Airbender as an example: It may then be surprising to learn that asteroids are small, ice-rich bodies that are completely frozen for the majority of their life cycles. Comets tend to have […] Continue reading →

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Halley’s Comet

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Halley’s Comet In 1705, Edmund Halley, an English astronomer, used Isaac Newton’s theories to chart the paths of 24 comets. In doing so he discovered that three comets that were seen in 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the exact same comet: Halley’s Comet. He then predicted that the same comet should appear again in the […] Continue reading →

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Comets – Blog Post #5 – Cameron Klein

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Cameron Klein

After learning briefly about asteroids and comets during previous units, I became intrigued by them. I had known a little bit about comets and where they are located within our solar system, but as I was reading about this in our textbook, I realized just how much more there was to learn. Comets are extremely […] Continue reading →

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Asteroid Mining

Posted on April 30, 2023 by sahilreddy2

Hayabusa: A robotic spacecraft by JAXA to acquire a sample from the asteroid Itokawa Asteroid mining can be crucial in helping us to acquire rare materials in our solar system. The asteroid belt has 8% metal-rich asteroids and 75% volatile-rich carbonaceous asteroids.  Currently the technique is mainly just theoretical as we don’t have the infrastructure […] Continue reading →

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Halley’s Comet

Posted on April 9, 2023 by sahilreddy2

Giotto Spacecraft Approaching Halley’s Comet Halley’s Comet has the ability to completely destroy a city. Until learning about this comet in a previous homework assignment I never realized the true devastation even a comet of this size could cause on the earth. Halley’s Comet most famous observation occurred in 1066 where it was said that […] Continue reading →

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Space Potatoes!

Posted on April 9, 2023 by sadiekarr

(Diagram showing various asteroids, very potato shaped, you may notice) As Dr. G says, “When I say Asteroids, you say Space Potatoes!” But what exactly does that mean? The reason we liken asteroids to potatoes is because of their shape (unfortunately, they do not taste as good as those beautiful starchy tubers) (Side note: in […] Continue reading →

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Bog 5 – Chelyabinsk Meteor

Posted on April 9, 2023 by constellationsarentreal

A relatively recent and frightening meteoric event occurred in the quaint city of Chelyabinsk in Russia on February 15, 2013. This incident is rather interesting since damage caused by the meteor was not due to impact, but rather violent shockwaves produced by the airborne-meteor’s explosion over the city. The explosion occurred when the meteor, roughly […] Continue reading →

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Comets

Posted on April 8, 2023 by zws42

Comets are Kuiper Belt objects composed of chunks of rock and various ices. For the majority of their orbits they are a long way away from the Sun and don’t have the characteristic tail that we are used to seeing. However, as the comet dives back into the inner solar system, the radiation from the […] Continue reading →

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What would happen if an asteroid struck present-day Earth?

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Myles7235

We normally only see asteroids striking Earth in science fiction (what a relief!). NASA actually has an observatory whose sole purpose is to track both asteroids and comets and that appear like they might come close to Earth. During December of 2022, there were 5 asteroids that were placed on watch. Two of these asteroids […] Continue reading →

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There’s A Comet Coming Our Way!?!

Posted on March 7, 2023 by thisisntzenon

As discussed in the textbook, most comets are not visible within Earth because they rarely pass through the inner solar system. Alternatively, they orbit the Sun within the Kuiper belt and Oort Cloud. Previously my knowledge of comet’s was bound to Halley’s comet, which is arguably one of the most famous of the comets to […] Continue reading →

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