Comets, Asteroids, Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites (week 8)

manna moment

Jeremiah 10:2 “Thus says the Lord:  “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them." 

Historically, comets have been seen as omens of evil when in fact they came with the Creation package on Day 4 when the Lord made the Sun, Moon and Stars.  Jeremiah warns us that we are not to fall into superstition and become dismayed.  We are to trust the Lord who made all things.  Even today, we hear all sorts of information about space especially now with the new James Webb Space Telescope.  We assume that those that are in direct contact with the data collected from this telescope think like us so then what they see and how they are interpreting the data should be true.  This is not always the case.  Worldview of astronomers shapes their interpretation always.  Be wary and always seek out what is truth from God in His word.  Jesus promises in John 8:31-32 that if we abide in His word, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free.  We are free as believers to not succumb to every idea that our culture throws at us.  Thank You Jesus for Your truth.

Lets take some notes

Through this lesson we learned about:

• Comets, their parts and what they are made of, how big they can be and how they travel
  

• Asteroids are very large rocky bodies that orbit the Sun, they do not have enough gravity for an atmosphere and are lifeless

• Meteoroids are smaller pieces of rock that orbit the Sun and when these smaller pieces enter our atmosphere, they become meteors.  If the meteor survives the burn of our atmosphere and hits the surface of the earth, it is then called a meteorite.

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Comets, Asteroids, Meteors oh my!

Taking the information from the note taking sheet, we applied what we learned to this foldable where the students can keep all the different kinds of space rocks separate.

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Making a comet

Comet models are a relatively easy thing to make and each part allows us to review what a comet is, its parts and what it is made of.










​Materials:

• Styrofoam ball (can be any size you would like your comet to be)
• Foil, enough to cover your styrofoam ball
• Silver and gold ribbon
• Thumb Tack
• Tape

Instructions:
1.  Grab your styrofoam ball which represents the nucleus of the comet.  The nucleus is made of frozen ice mixed with rock and dust.
2.  Cover your nucleus with foil representing the coma.  The coma is a small atmosphere around the nucleus that is reflective
When you are covering the nucleus with foil, you might have excess and can form the excess into a tiny tail that sticks out of the ball.  From here you can take your silver and gold ribbon and tie them to the ball.  
3.  If you covered the nucleus with foil and it is flush with the ball, then grab a thumb tack and attach the ribbon to the ball using the thumb tack.  You will need to secure the thumb tack with clear tape otherwise the tails will fall off easily.
4.  Finally, place the comet on a bamboo stick and the students can zoom around with them.

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This student is tying his ribbon to the tiny tail he made out of the foil for his comet.

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