Asteroids, Comets & Meteors - NASA Solar System Exploration
Don’t let the name fool you. Our solar system’s small bodies – asteroids, comets, and meteors – pack big surprises. These chunks of rock, ice, and metal are leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
Why Comets Are Important - NASA Solar System Exploration
2000年6月7日 · What Are Comets? * Comets are small, fragile, irregularly shaped bodies composed of a mixture of grains and frozen gases. They have highly elliptical orbits that repeatedly bring them very close to the Sun and then swing them deeply into space, often beyond the orbit of Pluto.
In Depth | 1P/Halley – NASA Solar System Exploration
Halley's Connection to Meteor Showers. Each time Halley returns to the inner solar system its nucleus sprays ice and rock into space. This debris stream results in two weak meteor showers each year: the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October.
In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
Introduction. The planetary system we call home is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.
In Depth | 21P/Giacobini-Zinner - NASA Solar System Exploration
Discovery. Comet Giacobini-Zinner was discovered on Dec. 20, 1900 by Michel Giacobini at the Nice Observatory in France. The comet was later recovered by Ernst Zinner in 1913 (October 23).
In Depth | Vega 1 – NASA Solar System Exploration
2024年11月20日 · Goals: The Soviet Union's twin Vega spacecraft were designed primarily to deliver advanced landers and balloons to Venus, but the return of comet Halley to the inner solar system provided an opportunity for additional science. Accomplishments: Both Vega 1 and its twin Vega 2 were tremendously successful. After successfully delivering its payload at Venus, …
In Depth | Asteroids – NASA Solar System Exploration
Introduction. Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.
Stardust Findings Suggest Comets More Complex Than Thought
Minerals formed near the sun or other stars were in the samples returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft in January 2006. The findings suggest materials from the inner regions of the solar system could have traveled to the outer reaches where comets formed.
The Usual Suspects: a Rogues Gallery of Asteroids, Comets and …
2018年11月15日 · This set of images shows the asteroid Bennu rotating for one full revolution. Over a four-hour and 11-minute period on Nov. 2, the PolyCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft acquired a 2.5-millisecond image for every 10 degrees of the asteroid’s rotation.
In Depth | Earth – NASA Solar System Exploration
Introduction. Our home planet is the third planet from the Sun, and the only place we know of so far that’s inhabited by living things. While Earth is only the fifth largest planet in the solar system, it is the only world in our solar system with liquid water on the surface.