Question

Besides moons and planets, what else orbits the sun? Rocks, ice, _comet_____________, and __meteors_________________. 2. When you see a streak of light in the sky, that’s a chunk of rock burning up in the Earth’s ____atmosphere_________________ (a _____________). 3. When you see a star with a fuzzy tail, that’s a dusty chunk of _________ heated by the sun (a __comet_____________). 4. Why does it take comets so long to orbit the sun? __________________________________________________________________ 5. All the planets, the meteors, and the comets are held into orbits by the sun’s ___________________ and all the orbits are ________________________. 6. Which has a longer orbit: comet or meteor? _______________________ 7. Meteoroids are chunks of rock and _________________ that orbit the sun. 8. Comets are chunks of ice and ___________________ that orbit the sun. 9. When you see a rock fall out of the sky and land on Earth, you know it’s a _________________. 10. The pockmarks on a meteorite are caused by the _________________ of passing through Earth’s atmosphere. 11. Why isn’t the earth covered in craters the way the moon is? ________________________________________________________________

Answer 1

Numerous small objects, including comets and meteors, orbit the sun. Comets take long to orbit due to their distant and elongated paths. Meteorites are the remnants of these objects that make it through Earth's atmosphere and impact its surface.

Step-by-step explanation:

Besides moons and planets, many other objects orbit the sun such as rocks, ice, comets, and meteors. When we see a streak of light in the sky, it's a chunk of rock burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, which is called a meteor. Observing a star with a fuzzy tail usually means spotting a dusty chunk of ice heated by the sun, known as a comet.

Comets take a long time to orbit the sun because they often have highly elongated orbits that span vast distances from the sun, and due to Kepler's laws, their orbital speed decreases significantly when they are far from the sun. The sun's gravitational pull holds planets, meteors, and comets in orbits that are elliptical.

Between a comet and a meteor, a comet usually has a longer orbit. Meteoroids, which become meteors when they enter Earth's atmosphere, are chunks of rock and metal that orbit the sun. Comets are composed of ice and dust and can leave behind debris that leads to meteor showers when Earth passes through the comet's former path. A rock that falls from the sky and lands on Earth is a meteorite, and the pockmarks on a meteorite are caused by the ablation of its material as it passes through the atmosphere.

The reason Earth isn't covered in craters like the moon is because of its dynamic atmosphere, weathering processes, and geological activity that erodes and covers the impact sites over time.