Asteroid Eros
Asteroid Eros
About 100,000 asteroids orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter in what is called the Asteroid Belt.
Most asteroids are very small, but some are hundreds of miles across.
Asteroids are made of rock and metals, probably material that never formed a complete planet. They are often covered with craters.
Activity Idea: learn.jpl.nasa.gov/crater.htm The Educator's Guide to Impact Craters by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory describes a crater-making exercise, with well-explained background information and vocabulary.
Activity Idea: www.smv.org/jims/crater/crater2.htm includes detailed instructions for a crater-making activity and helpful photographs of the process.
Activity Idea: quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/teachers/tg/program3/3.2ws.html includes student worksheets on which to record all data and observations.
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Web page by Challe Hudson. Copyright 2001 Morehead Planetarium.