Asteroids, Comets and Meteors Reading Passage（小行星、彗星和流星阅读段落）.pdf

Asteroids, Comets and Meteors Besides planets and their moons there are several other types of celestial bodies in our solar system. These include asteroids, comets and meteors. Asteroids are also called planetoids or minor planets because they are in a fixed orbit around the sun. Many asteroids are quite small compared to the planets. For example, a probe launched into space by NASA sent back a picture of an asteroid that was merely 30 miles in diameter. An asteroid is like a large boulder orbiting around the sun. Astronomers have identified 26 asteroids larger than 125 miles in diameter and thousands between 50 and 125 miles in diameter. Space probes have taken a closer look at some large asteroids. Meanwhile scientists have estimated that there are millions of asteroids too small to be visible from earth even with the most powerful telescopes. There is a large group of asteroids that orbit the sun between the planets Mars and Jupiter that is called the main belt of asteroids. Scientists don’t yet know why so many asteroids exist in this part of the solar system. Comets also revolve around the sun. While planets have elliptical orbits that are close to being circular, comets have highly elliptical orbits that are long and narrow. This means that at some points in their orbit comets are much closer to the sun than other times. Comets are balls of ice and rocky dust particles that look like giant dirty snowballs. The ice is a mixture of water, ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane. As it travels through space a comet has a trailing tail made of gas and particles. The tail of a comet always faces away from the sun due to the solar wind and solar radiation. Because comets have a different shape of orbit, sometimes they collide with a planet, causing an impact crater on the planet. NASA space probes are providing new information about comets. A meteor is often called a shooting star, fallin