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Asteroids

Asteroids. Murphy McGraw. What they are. Rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered planets No atmospheres Diverse group of small celestial bodies in the solar system Known as "minor planets" Made of rock and metal. History. 65 million years ago

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Asteroids

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  1. Asteroids Murphy McGraw

  2. What they are • Rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered planets • No atmospheres • Diverse group of small celestial bodies in the solar system • Known as "minor planets" • Made of rock and metal

  3. History • 65 million years ago • 1801 – Ceres • June 30, 1908 • Theories on chemicals

  4. Why study them? • Where are they? Could they strike earth (again?) • Mineral Resources • Formation of the Solar System and our own Earth.

  5. How to study them • Telescopes • Spectroscopes • Rockets • Spacecrafts • Six space missions • Laboratory analysis of meteorites

  6. Types • C-type • S-type • M-type • Rare types

  7. How they are classified • Classified by Aledo • Composition derived from spectral features in their reflected sunlight • Inferred similarities to known meteorite types

  8. Where they are located • Asteroid Belt Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter • Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) • Amors • Apollos • Atens • Trojans

  9. Sizes and Shapes • All different shapes and sizes • Nearly spherical (Ceres) • Very irregular (Eros, most others) • Size ranging- very small (rocks)  very large (minor planets)

  10. Bibliography / Questions? • http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/text/asteroids.txt • http://www.nineplanets.org/asteroids.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid • http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/DawnCommunity/flashbacks/fb_12.pdf • http://www.noao.edu/education/asteroids/

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