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Make Your Own Asteroid
Make Your Own Asteroid
By Colby
Asteroids are collections of space dust that gets stuck together by gravity. There are two basic kinds of asteroids, differentiated and undifferentiated. A differentiated asteroid is larger than 0.6 miles across and has a metallic core. If these asteroids continue to grow, they can become dwarf planets and even planets.
An undifferentiated asteroid is smaller and does not have enough gravity to force the metal parts to make a core in the middle. This makes them a better picture of what the early solar system was like. That's why scientists like to study them.
What are asteroids?
What are asteroids?
Check out this video to learn what asteroids are and what they can teach us about the earliest days of our solar system. (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)
Colby and Kyle want to show you how you can make your very own undifferentiated asteroid using a plastic bag and play dough.
Supplies:
Two colors of play dough
A plastic bag that can be closed tightly like Ziploc or a bread bag with a twist tie.
For instructions, click through the presentation slides on the right and follow along.
Resources: NASA Meteorite PowerPoint, Antarctic Meteorites
Fun facts about asteroids
Fun facts about asteroids
Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center (http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov)
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