Star Keepers

The nucleus of a comet consists of frozen gases. It’s the seed that starts the growth of a comet and builds it in size to a mile or a few miles wide. Are you aware of the fly by near-Earth objects?

The massive gravity of our Sun pulls on the planets, moons and flying rocks found in space, all around us. They are all pulled towards the center of our sun. Comets nearing the sun will begin melting and develop a ‘misty cloud’ around them and is aka as the ‘coma’. A ‘tail’ or more can also develop usually consisting of gas, which is the longest and others will be shorter and just dust. All tails point away from the Sun. Some may circle the suns orbit and this tail will be blown in front of the comet due to the solar winds.

Asteroids are classified as metallic, round objects aka as ‘minor planets’ and thought to be the remains of left over materials from the formation of our solar system. They can be found in all sizes. Study of meteorites that have hit Earth show they are made of silicate, iron and nickel in various compositions. Today, close encounters via satellites have provided scientists up-close visuals and information regarding their composition. They are closely tracked due to the possibility of colliding with Earth and devastation that could occur.

Silicate - many insoluble compound consisting of silicon, oxygen, and a metal(s) .
Silicon - a non-metallic element occurs naturally only in compounds and in abundance in the earth’s crust. Mixed with oxygen it forms silica .

Navigation of the planets goes as follows starting from the Sun –> Mercury –> Venus –> Earth –> Mars –> Asteroid belt –> Jupiter –> Saturn –> Uranus –> Neptune –> Pluto . Controversy and speculation exists at the possibility of a undiscovered planet beyond Pluto due to some anomalies found with the orbits between Uranus and Neptune.

The influences of the sun upon the planets, moons and rocks - controls the orbital velocities of the planets, shapes their character, chemical composition, and mass according to their distance from the sun. This includes affecting the behavior of our Asteroid belt. It is believed that collisions or planetary influences can cause a asteroid to get knocked or pulled out of orbit and start a journey, towards the Sun.

NASA operates the Near - Earth Objects Program (NEO) for scientists to detect and maintain a vigilance upon the travel paths of asteroids and comets, that are heading towards the Sun, to determine the possibility of any collisions with Earth and also to study the formation of our universe. Study of comets reveal they usually arrive from outside our solar system whereas asteroids are believed to be left over remnants of the inner planets- Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars- those planets this side, of the Asteroid belt.

Study of asteroids and comets has revealed them to be valuable sources of minerals that could be used towards future space explorations, colonization efforts, and fuel. Comets can be found to be rich with liquid hydrogen and oxygen which are two of the primary ingredients used for rocket fuel. Comets may be sources of fuel resupply stations for interplanetary travel. Can you imagine a career in mining a asteroid or comet? navigating a space vehicle to enter such a environment?

The NEO program has discovered 7,708 asteroids of which 811 are larger than 1 km in diameter and 1,125 of these are considered ‘potentially hazardous asteroids’ (PHA). These ones may have the potential to collide with Earth. Therefore, NEO provides the means for our scientists to detect and maintain updated records, for us and our future generations while also studying the early formation of our world. We can live our daily lives reassured that the NEO program is watching the stars and beyond Earth. Read related –> here and there.

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