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2. Meteors, Asteroids, &
Comets
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3. Feb 15, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36MEsWC1Pzc

4. Feb 15, 2013
MOSCOW—A meteor streaked through the
sky and exploded Friday over Russia's Ural
Mountains with the power of an atomic
bomb, its sonic blasts shattering countless
windows and injuring hundreds of people.
The spectacle deeply frightened thousands,
with some elderly women declaring the
world was coming to an end.
The meteor — estimated to be about 10
tons — entered the Earth's atmosphere at
a hypersonic speed of at least 54,000 kph
(33,000 mph) and shattered about 30-50
kilometres (18-32 miles) above the ground,
the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a
statement.

5. Feb 15, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBvotWfR3j4

6. Feb 15, 2013
Area of impact

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13. Feb 15, 2013
“A suspected meteorite fragment may have made this
hole in a lake in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia.”

14. Feb 15, 2013

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16. Feb 15, 2013

17. Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites
Meteoroid – a piece of rock moving through space
(smaller than asteroids, likely rocky chunks that
have broken off of asteroids and planets)

18. Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites
... What is this a picture of?

19. Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites
Meteor – a meteoroid that enters Earth’s atmosphere
and burns up (Shooting stars are meteors)

20. Meteoroids, Meteors and Meteorites
Meteorite – a meteoroid that passes through
Earth’s atmosphere and reaches the ground
without burning up.

21. Asteroids
• An object that
ranges in size
from approx.
1km to 50km
wide
• Found in the
asteroid belts

22. Asteroid and Meteorite Impacts
65 Million Years Ago – an asteroid the size of a
mountain struck the Earth, some scientists believe
this caused a mass extinction of thousands of
species

24. Asteroid and Meteorite Impacts
Vredefort Crater
-largest and oldest crater
-South Africa
-diameter = 250 km
-2 billion years old

25. Asteroid and Meteorite Impacts
Manicouagan Crater
-fifth largest crater
-Quebec, Canada
-diameter = 70 km
-212 million years old

26. Asteroid and Meteorite Impacts
Clearwater Craters
-two lake-filled craters
-Quebec, Canada
-diameter = 32 km
(West crater) & 22 km
(East crater)
-290 million years old

27. Asteroid and Meteorite Impacts
Chicxulub Crater
-third largest crater
-Yucatan Peninsula,
Mexico (mostly
underwater)
-diameter = 170 km
(size of a small city)
-65 million years old
(time of extinction of
the dinosaurs)

28. Asteroid and Meteorite Impacts
June 30th, 1908
– an object hit in
Siberia and
destroyed an area
larger than the
whole city of
Kingston Ontario

29. Comets
An object composed of rocky material, ice, and gas
which orbits the sun.
Has 2 tails – one of gas/water vapour, and one of
dust.

30. Comets
The radiation from the Sun releases gases and
particles in the comet and the tails form.