Okay, so today we are supposed to be by-passed by an asteroid. We know asteroids by many names, such as near Earth objects, meteorites, shooting stars, and UFO's, but what are they, really?
Well, because they have been in the news lately, I thought I would peruse that great, old, World Wide Web to see if I could find a little something on them for you. What I found a bunch of sites on asteroids! I will share them, but just for the sake of writing, I will attempt to explain it in easy language.
An asteroid is a rock.
No, really!!! So, if you go all the way back to a star trying to form, it creates a nebula with gas and dust, solid partials are formed, which build up and if they don't become part of the star or part of the planets that belong to that star, they wander off into the universe to fly around, sucked in at times by the gravity of different planets, stars and galaxies. And that not only is one really, long sentence, it is the simplest explanation I can give!
You can visit our Astronomy blog and ask Warren, our Astronomer, about their trajectory around the solar system, why they miss us or hit us (Crater Lake, Oregon, or Barringer Meteorite Crater, Winslow Arizona <I've been there--it's really cool!>), what happens to them when they fly away and what might happen if one were to hit us (Can anyone say Dinosaur???).
Also, check out some of these sites. All of them are cool and there are a gazillion more out there--these are just a few. Anyway, see you in a few days with the last installment on water!!!
Oh, and just for kicks, our wonderful production staff created a great connect the dots with an asteroid! Thanks guys!!!
http://starsatnight.org/sciencetheater/assets/File/Cosmic%20Collisions%20Connect%20The%20Dots.pdf
Smiles and happy asteroid hunting!
Jacki
http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Asteroids/AsteroidsDescribed.html
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/asteroid-to-fly-by-earth-safely-on-january-26/#.VMaM-9LF-So
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/184-What-are-asteroids-
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/asteroid.htm
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/what-are-asteroids/