Asteroids and Meteors

Here we will talk about asteroid and meteors.

Asteroids are basically leftover material from the creation of the planets, not meeting all the conditions to become a planet. So what caused the asteroid belt? There is plenty of material there to become a planet! Scientists theorize that Jupiter’s gravity prevented a planet from forming where the asteroid belt is now. Asteroids are found in a huge variety of sizes! They can be as small as a pebble to as big as a house. Scientist believe a huge asteroid millions of years ago was the cause of a worldwide mass extinction that managed to wipe out the dinosaurs! Meteors occur when an object from space is dragged into Earth’s atmosphere by gravity. Most meteors burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, but some don’t, reaching the ground. These are called meteorites. The asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was a meteorite. Scientists hope to study meteorites so they can learn more about how our solar system formed, as many meteorites are as old as the solar system.