The small bodies in the solar system include comets, asteroids, the objects in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort cloud, small planetary satellites, Triton, Pluto, Charon, and interplanetary dust. As some of these objects are believed to be minimally altered from their state in the young solar nebula from which the planets formed, they may provide insight into planet Earth and the formation and evolution of the solar system.
Big Impacts
Comets and other small bodies have a big impact because they tell us so much about how our solar system formed. Comets tell scientists about conditions early in the formation of the solar system. Many comets come from the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. The Kuiper Belt is a large region that begins at Pluto and extends for billions of miles. The Oort Cloud is even further out. Scientists believe that icy and rocky objects in these regions far from the Sun are relatively unchanged since the beginning of the solar system. While it is difficult to get to these objects, some of the objects come to us. They come as comets that orbit close to the Sun at one end of their orbit and into the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud at the other end. The Stardust mission studied Comet Wild 2 because it was new to the inner part of the solar system and hadn't been changed by radiation from the Sun.
Comets also have a big influence when they collide with Earth. While collisions between Earth and comets are currently extremely rare, millions of years ago it was more common. Some scientists argue that colliding comets early in Earth's development contributed much of Earth's water. Some scientists also postulate that comets could have delivered organic molecules critical to the formation of life. Comets contain a lot of water and these special organic chemicals.
Big Impacts
Comets and other small bodies have a big impact because they tell us so much about how our solar system formed. Comets tell scientists about conditions early in the formation of the solar system. Many comets come from the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. The Kuiper Belt is a large region that begins at Pluto and extends for billions of miles. The Oort Cloud is even further out. Scientists believe that icy and rocky objects in these regions far from the Sun are relatively unchanged since the beginning of the solar system. While it is difficult to get to these objects, some of the objects come to us. They come as comets that orbit close to the Sun at one end of their orbit and into the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud at the other end. The Stardust mission studied Comet Wild 2 because it was new to the inner part of the solar system and hadn't been changed by radiation from the Sun.
Comets also have a big influence when they collide with Earth. While collisions between Earth and comets are currently extremely rare, millions of years ago it was more common. Some scientists argue that colliding comets early in Earth's development contributed much of Earth's water. Some scientists also postulate that comets could have delivered organic molecules critical to the formation of life. Comets contain a lot of water and these special organic chemicals.
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