Lesson 9 of 84 · Space
Lesson⭐ 30 XP🚀 StarbaseAsteroids and Comets
Asteroids and Comets.
🎯 Your mission
Master the concept. Use it tomorrow.
⚡ The twist
The light you see now started its trip a long time ago.
Mind = Blown
🌌 If you could drive a car straight up at highway speed, you'd reach space in under an hour.
Make a hypothesis first
Guess: how big does that look from here vs. from there?
What You'll Learn
Asteroids are rocky objects orbiting the sun, mostly found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Comets are icy objects that develop tails when they approach the sun.
Key Words
- asteroid
- comet
- solar system
Steps
Review the background information on Space before starting.
Track the moon's phase each night for two weeks. Draw what you see and identify the pattern.
Watch carefully for any changes and note the time.
Create a data table to organize your measurements.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 3What is the closest star to Earth?
Where you see this in real life
GPS, weather forecasts, and the seasons all rely on this.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Find a constellation in the sky. Look it up. Tell someone its story.
For the dinner table
“If you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
Checkout complete lesson on Space for 8th Grade
Get the full Space track as a printable PDF — all lessons, worksheets, and answer keys.