KEY WORD: "Comet"
Very rarely, a comet will appear in
the sky. Comets are small bodies of
ice and dust. When they approach
the Sun, they will often form a
glowing tail.
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Satellites,
shooting stars,
and comets
You will often be able to see at
least a couple points of light in
the sky that seem to be moving
fairly quickly. Usually, they are
airplanes. If they are blinking,
that’s what they are. But once in
a while you will be able to see a
man-made satellite such as the
International Space Station
(ISS). The ISS will show up as a
bright point of light that moves across the
entire sky in just a few minutes. Other
satellites will flash brightly for a few
seconds and then disappear again.
If you are lucky, you might be able to catch
a shooting star during one of your evening
stargazing sessions. It will look like a bright
trail of light flashing briefly across the sky.
Shooting stars are small pieces of rock or
dust from space that burn up as they enter
our atmosphere.
TIP!
Every year around the 12th of
August, the chances of seeing
shooting stars are especially high. At
this time, Earth’s orbit around the
Sun takes it through a giant cloud of
dust left behind by a comet.
TIP!
With permission from a pare
nt or adult
supervisor, visit the website h
eavens-above.com.
This website can tell you th
e locations of many
celestial objects and when t
o look for the ISS or
bright satellite flashes (calle
d iridium flares).
