8

SCIENCE 8
QUARTER 2 – MODULE 3:
Comets, Asteroids and
Meteors
Science – Grade 8
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 2 – Module 3: EARTH and SPACE: Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors
First Edition, 2020

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Published by the Department of Education

Secretary: Leonor Magtolis Briones
Undersecretary: Diosdado M. San Antonio

Development Team of the

Module Writers: Rhoda Lyn P. Reglos
Almaida F. Derige
Elyn Joy M.
Mengaracal Benjamin
D. Casita
Editors: Arthur C. Fronda
Ma. Rhodora O. Machacon
Reviewers: Allan S. Guillermo
Luisa M. Megote EdD
Jan Darrel A. Casuncad
Julie G. De Guzman
EdD

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 8

Science
Quarter 2 – Module 3:
EARTH and SPACE
Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors
(Week 6)
 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help
you master the nature of Near-Earth Objects(NEO). The scope of this module
permits it to be used in many different learning situations. The language used
recognizes the diverse vocabulary level of students. The lessons are arranged to
follow the standard sequence of the course. But the order in which you read them
can be changed to correspond with the textbook you are now using.

The module is divided into three lessons, namely:

 Lesson 1 – Visitors from the Kuipers Belt and Oort Cloud (COMETS)
 Lesson 2 – Visitors from Mars and Jupiter (ASTEROIDS)
 Lesson 3 – The Most Often Visitors of the Earth
( METEOROIDS, METEORS AND METEORITES)

MELC: Compare and Contrast Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors.(S8ES-IIc-18)

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors;

2. identify the differences and similarities of comets, asteroids, and meteors;

3. determine human practices and beliefs about space rocks; and

4. explain the significant contributions of comets, asteroids, and meteors in

Early Earth.

2
 What I Know

Directions: Read and answer the test item below by choosing the letter of the best
answer. Please use a separate sheet for your answer

For Questions No. 1-3 refer to the choices given below

1. A piece of debris travelling through space which ranges in size from a grain
of sand to over 100ft in diameter.

2. A meteor that survives from falling through the atmosphere and strikes the
Earth’s surface.

3. Space objects ranging in size from 6 m to 933 km across that revolve around
the Sun and can be found in between Mars and Jupiter.

4. Where are meteoroids located?

A. Atmosphere C. Crust

B. Core D. Outer space

5. Which of the following are the parts of a comet?

A. head ,body, tail

B. nucleus, proton, electron

C. nucleus , coma, tail

D. head, electron, nucleus

6. Where do long period comets originate?

A. moon C. kuiper’s belt

B. sun D. Oort cloud

7. Which is more likely a “frequent visitior” of the earth?

A. asteroids C. moon

B. comets D. planet

8. Which comet is often considered as the most famous comet?

A. Holly’s comet C. Ceres

B. Halley’s comet D. Orionid

9. Asteroids are sometimes called .
A. constellation C. planetoid

B. moon D. meteor shower

10. Most of the asteroids orbit around the sun between the orbits of .
A. Earth and Mars C. Mars and Jupiter

B. Biyo and Venus D. Mercury and Neptune

11. When is tail of a Comet visible?

A. As a comet moves. As a comet gets closer to the sun.

B. As the Comet moves.

C. As a comet gets closer to the sun.

D. As the Comet revolves around the sun.

12. Which is not composition of comets?

A. ice C. organic compounds

B. frozen gases D. silicates

13. When Halley’s Cometlast appeared in 1986 and its periodic appearance
is every 75-79 years, when will be its next appearance?
A. 2021-2076 C. 2052-2062

B. 2046-2050 D. 2061-2065

14. Which of the following will most likely happen when a comet or asteroid hits
the Earth?
A. No impact craters will be formed.
B. Impact will be negligible to cause great damage.
C. Plants and animals grow abundantly in the crash site.
D. Plant and animals will be affect near or on the crash site.
15. Why do meteors seem to originate from only one point in the sky during a
meteor shower?
A. Meteoroids are traveling in parallel paths at the same velocity.
B. Meteoroids are travelling in perpendicular paths.
C. Meteors survive burning in the atmosphere.
D. Comets travel away from the sun.
 Lesson Visitors from the Kuiper’s Belt
and Oort Cloud
1 (COMETS)

What’s In

Look upon a bright night sky? Aside from the stars and the moon can you
see other objects in the sky? Can you identify and describe them?
In this lesson you will find out what comets are and what materials that made
them. You will go through its composition and what do scientists usually called a
comet. Images are provided for you to visualize and amaze you on what does a
comet looks like, what materias that made them and what makes it different among
the other members of the solar system.

What’s New

What is a Comet?
A comet is an icy body that releases gas or dust that when passing close to
the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process called outgassing. This
produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. They often
compared to dirty snowballs, and some scientists called them dirtballs. A comet
contains dust, ice, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and more.
 What is It

Comets orbit around the sun. As a comet gets closer to the sun, the ice on
the surface of nucleus begins turning into gas, forming a cloud known as the coma.
The radiation from the sun pushes dust particles away from the coma, forming a
dust tail, while charged particles from the sun convert some of the comets gases
into ions, forming an ion (or plasma) tail. Scientist also discovered the third type of
comet tail which is a faint of sodium. Comet tails are always pointing away from
the sun since they are shaped by sunlight and the solar wind. A Comet has the
following parts namely:

Figure1: Parts of Comet https://www.google.com/search?

q=images+of+comet+coma+tail+nucleus&tbm=isc h&ved=2ahUKEwiv8IXa7-
rsAhUjHKYKHXBWDOwQ2-
cCegQIABAA&oq=images+of+comet+coma+tail+nucleus&

Coma- the gas and dust atmosphere around the nucleus

Nucleus- solid centre

Tail- extending millions of miles through space

You can see a number of comets with the naked eye when they pass close to
the sun because of their comas and tail reflect sunlight or even glow because of
energy they absorb from the sun. However, most comets are too small to be seen
without a telescope. Long period comets come from the Oort Cloud, which is
beyond our Solar System while short live comets come from the Kuipers Belt,
which is just beyond the Neptune’s Belt.
 Comets leave traces of debris behind them that seen as meteor showers on
earth. Comets are named after their discoverer for instance; comet Shoemaker-Levy
9 got its name because it was ninth short-periodic comet discovered by Eugene
and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy.
One of the famous comets that constantly visits the earth every 75-79 years
and visible to the naked eye when it nears the sun is Halley’s Comet. It was named
after its discoverer – Edmund Halley. When Halley’s Comet zoomed near Earth
in1986, five spacecraft flew past it and gathered unprecedented details,
coming close enough to study its nucleus, which is normally concealed by the
comet’s coma.

When do you expect to see Halley’s Comet to visit Earth?

Figure 2: Halley’s Comet

Source: Naeem, R.(2011).
,
Facts about Halley’s Comet.
Retrieved on Facts About
Halley’s Comet from
https://interestingfactsblog
spot.blogspot.com/2011/02
/facts-about-halleys-
comet.html retrived on
August 29, 2019
 What’s More

ACTIVITY 1.1 “LET’S MEET AND GREET COMETS”

Objective: Draw and label the parts of a comet.

A. What will you need:

• crayons/colored pencils/pens
• pencil

B. What will you do:

Draw, color and label the parts of the comet.

Rubrics: 5- drawn comet with complete parts and with color

4-drawn comet with complete parts but without color
3-drawn comet and labeled 2 parts with or without
color 2-drawn comet and labeled 1 part with or
without color
1-drawn comet without labeled parts with or without
color 0-no answer

GUIDE QUESTIONS:

1. What are comets made of?

 What I Have Learned

Directions: Write and enumerate five sentences on what you have learned from our
lesson.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

What I Can Do

ACTIVITY 1.2 “Comet You Came From?”

Objectives: Identify the characteristics, composition and the origin of the Comets.

Directions: Fill the table below what are the characteristics of the Comets.

COMETS

Composition

Origin

Parts

Where they are

found
GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. Why do we not see comets often?

2. They said that Halley’s Comet constantly visits the earth every 75-79 years and
visible to the naked eye when it nears the sun. When Halley’s Comet zoomed near
Earth in1986, when is the next visit?

3. Ask your parents or your grandparents about their ancient beliefs about visiting
comets to earth and how it affects their way of living.
 Lesson
ASTEROIDS:Visitors from
2 Mars and Jupiter

What’s In

In your previous topic you have learned about comets and its components.
In this lesson you will learn about Asteroids and why they are called Visitors
from Mars and Jupiter. In the late 1700s, many astronomers were hunting for an
additional planet they thought should exist in the gap between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter but to their surprise these objects are different from planets. Images
are provided for you to visualize and amaze you on what does an asteroid looks
like and and what makes them different from a planet.

What’s New

What is an Asteroid?
Asteroids are rocky fragment ranging in size from 6 m to 933 km across
that revolve around the Sun in more elliptical orbit. Millions of asteroids can be
found in the asteroids (found between Mars and Jupiter) belts that are less than 1
km in diameter. More than 750,000 are bigger, and of those, at least 200 are more
than 100 km across.
Figure 3: Asteroid

Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+asteroids&sxsrf=ALeKk03-
yDP7sFpsj20qx30h2X-
UZYoLkg:1604637478891&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=CALMvoT_8g-
zTM%252CATy7ihV

What is It
The outer part of the asteroids belt are compose mainly of carbon, while
those located in the inner part of the belt are made up primarily of Silicate
(Oxygen, silicon and one metal) minerals, from melted objects.

The amount of silicate present in Asteroids allows asteroids to reflect lights.

If Asteroids contain low amount of Silica it is very difficult to see it even with a
telescope because only small area of the asteroid can reflect light thus it may
appear smaller than what it is really is.

It is believe that they are the result of collisions of much larger objects
occurring around the time that our solar system was formed. In fact they are also
called planetoids or minor planets. Some asteroids, on the other hand, are derived
from the tails of Comets.

In February 2013, Asteroid 2012 DA14 made a very close approach to

Earth as it orbited the Sun. In December 2012, Asteroid Toutalis also made a near
approach to Earth but not as close as Asteroid 2012 DA 14.

Have you watched the movie Armageddon or Deep Impact?

Have you observe the damage done by the meteorite on Earth?

 What’s More

ACTIVITY 2.1 “How Great is the Impact?”

Objective: Describe how impact craters are formed when a comet or asteroid hits
the Earth based on a simulation.

A. What will you need:

• 4 pieces stones of different size

• wide mouth basin/tray

• sand/flour/starch

B. What will you do:

1. Half fill the basin with sand/flour/starch.

2. Throw a stone to hit the sand/flour/starch in the tray. Do this about four times,
hitting different parts of the flour in the tray/basin.

3. Observe the crater size made by asteroids (your rock drops) of different sizes.
Compare it with the impact crater photo shown below.

Figure 4: Impact of Asteroid

Source:http://www.google.c
om/images?imgurl=https%3
A%2F%Fimages.fineartamer
ica.com%2Fimages-
medium-large-5%2Fthe-
barringer-meteor-crater-rod-
jones.html&bnid=97B5smY
hHYzOrM&vet=12ahUKEwjs
GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What do you notice about the shape, diameter and deep of your stone’s
crater?

2. What do you think will happen to the plants and animals living in the area
where the asteroid crashed?

3. How does the size of asteroids affect the area?

What I Have Learned

Directions: Fill in the missing word to complete the sentences.

1. are rocky fragment ranging in size from 6 m to 933 km across that

revolve around the Sun in more elliptical orbit.

2. The outer part of the asteroids belt are compose mainly of , while
those located in the inner part the belt are made up primarily of Silicate(Oxygen,
silicon and one metal) minerals, from melted objects.

3. The amount of silicate present in Asteroids allows asteroids to lights.

If Asteroids contain low amount of Silica it is very difficult to see it even with a
telescope because only small area of the asteroid can reflect light thus it may
appear smaller than what it is really is.

4. It is believe that they are the result of collisions of much larger objects occurring
around the time that our solar system was formed. In fact they are also
called . Some asteroids, on the other hand, are derived
from the tails of Comets.

5. In 2013, Asteroid 2012 DA14 made a very close approach to

Earth as it orbited the Sun. In December 2012, Asteroid Toutalis also made a
near approach to Earth but not as close as Asteroid 2012 DA 14.
 What I Can Do

Activity 2.2 Draw Me!

Objectives: Illustrate impact of asteroids to the Earth.

Direction: In a clean and separate sheet of paper, coupon or illustration ¼

illustration board, create a poster about the impact of asteroids on Earth.
Rubric Score:
5 4 3 2
Score
Criteria
Relevance to Posters are Poster shows Nice poster Poster’s
the topic greatly related relevance to but does not meaning is not
to the topic. the topic. support the clear and does
topic. not support
the topic.
Neatness of Neat and Presentable Lacks the Slogan or
work pleasant to and has nice ability to poster is
look at with combination combine colors messy and
good of colors. and a little bit dirty.
combination of messy.
colors
 The Most Often Visitors of the
Lesson
Earth
3 METEOROIDS, METEORS,
AND METEORITES

What’s In

In the previous lessons you have learned about comets and asteroids. In
this lesson you will learn about Meteoroids, meteors and meteorites; and why they
are called the most often visitors of the Earth.

What’s New

Do you know that on the average, more than 40 tons of dust and debris fall
into the Earth’s atmosphere every day and are burned up as it falls toward the
ground? Mostly are too small to be visible, but sometimes a larger piece will burn
long enough to be seen in the night sky. What is exciting is that sometimes these
pieces survive to journey through our atmosphere and strike the surface of the

Earth. Do you know what are these pieces of rocks from outer space are?

Figure 5: (a)
Scientist collecting
meteorite from Miller
Range in Antartica
and (b) Martian
Meteorite found in
North Africa. Photo
obtained from Solar
System.NASA.gov

a b
 What is It

A piece of debris travelling through space that ranges in size from a grain
of sand to over 100 ft in diameter is called a meteoroid.
When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere it is called a meteor. Meteors
that can be seen in the night sky are sometimes called shooting stars.

Meteors are dust or sand grain sized pieces of rock which speed through space
up to tens or hundreds of kilometre a second and when they enter the Earth’s
atmosphere they burn up, creating bright strikes in the sky known as “shooting
stars” or a falling star.

When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, we call it a meteor shower.

Figure 6: Meteor Shower

A Taurid meteor shower observed

during November. Photo obtained
from Solar System.NASA.gov

The meteor shower is named after the constellation where they seem to
originate from, like the meteor shower Taurid and Geminid from the constellation
Taurus and Gemini often observe during the month of November and December,
but this does not mean that the meteoroids come from the associated constellation.
Remember: a meteor and a meteor shower are light phenomena; they are not
stars.
A meteor that survives from falling through the atmosphere and strikes the
Earth’s surface is called a meteorite. Some are as small as a pebble, others are very
large. Often, large meteors break up into many smaller meteorites on impact.
Have you heard the news about a meteoroid exploded over Russia on February
2013?

The picture below shows the impact of meteorite on earth.

Photo
source:http://www.google.com
/images?imgurl=https%3A%2
F%Fimages.fineartamerica.co
m%2Fimages-medium-large-
5%2Fthe-barringer-meteor-
crater-rod-
jones.html&bnid=97B5smYhH
YzOrM&vet=12ahUKEwjgs

What’s More

ACTIVITY 3.1 “Meteor, Meteorites or Meteoroids”

Objective: Differentiate meteor, meteorites and meteoroids

Directions: Listed below are the places where you can find space debris. Tell
whether the debris you find would be a meteoroid, a meteor, or a meteorite.

1. Orbiting the earth

2. In your backyard
3. On top of a mountain
4. Streaking across the night sky
5. Leaving the Solar System
6. In the clouds
7. At the North Pole
8. At the bottom of the ocean
B. Show where a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite are most likely to be found in
the diagram below. Use the following symbols for each: meteor ;

meteoroid ; meteorite .

Outer Space

Atmosphere

Crust

What I Have Learned

Directions: Read each sentence carefully and fill in the correct word/s to complete
the sentence.

1. A piece of debris travelling through space that ranges in size from a

grain of sand to over 100 ft in diameter is .

2. When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere it is called .

3. Meteor that can be seen in the night sky are sometimes called as .

4. When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, we call it a .

5. A meteor that survives from falling through the atmosphere and

strikes the Earth’s surface is called a .
 What I Can Do

ACTIVITY 3.2 ARE WE RELATED OR NOT?

Objective: Compare meteors, asteroids and comets

Directions: Complete the Venn diagram using the given characteristics below.
Write the number only.

1. Made of ice, rock or iron

2. Remnants of the formation of the solar system
3. Rocky composition
4. Icy objects
5. Orbit the sun in highly elliptical orbit
6. Irregular rocklike fragments
7. Also known as shooting star
8. Few meters up to kilometer in diameter
9. Come from the Oort Cloud Or Kuipers belt
10. Burn up as they enter Earth’s atmosphere
 Celestial visitors like comets, asteroids, and meteors have always captured
the imagination of ancient civilizations. They have been thought of as bad omens or
signs of great change or challenge such as ushering disasters and wars.
But with new scientific processes and tools, as well as great access to
scientific information, these celestial visitors have gained the appreciation and
interest of many people, scientists and non-scientists included, all over the world.

Additional Activities
If you wish to have access to the internet, there are several videos that will help you
go through understanding the concept of comet/asteroids and meteors. Here are
some you can easily access:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygqwP62Qwzl

Assessment
Directions: Read and answer the test item below by choosing the letter of the best
answer. Please use a separate sheet for your answer.

1. Which of the following space objects ranging in size from 6 m to 933 km across
that revolve around the Sun and can be found in between Mars and Jupiter?
A. Asteroids C. Meteors

B. Comets D. Meteoroids

2. Which of the following are the parts of a comet?

A. head, body, tail

B. nucleus, proton, electron

C. nucleus, coma, tail

D. head, electron, nucleus

3. Where do long-period comets originate?

A. Moon C. Kuipers belt

B. Sun D. Oort Cloud

 4. Which is more likely a “frequent visitor” of the Earth?

A. Asteroids C. Moon

B. Comets D. Planet

5. Which comet is often considered as the most famous comet?

A. Halley’s comet C. Ceres

B. Holly’s comet D. Orionid

6. Asteroids are sometimes called .

A. constellation C. planetoid

B. moon D. meteor shower

7. Most of the asteroids orbit around the sun between the orbits of .

A. Earth and Mars C. Biyo and Venus

B. Mercury and Neptune D. Mars and Jupiter

8. When is tail of a Comet visible?

A. As a comet moves.
B. As a comet gets closer to the sun.
C. As the Comet revolves around the sun.
D. As the Comet revolves around the Earth.
9. Which is NOT a composition of comets?
A. Ice C. Frozen Gases
B. Silicates D. Organic compounds
10. When Halley’s Comet last appeared in 1986 and its periodic appearance
is every 75-79 years, when will be its next appearance near Earth?
A. 2071-2076 C. 2052-2062

B. 2061-2065 D. 2046-2050

11. Which of the following will most likely happen when a comet or asteroid hits the
Earth

A. Plant and animals will be affect near or on the crash site.

B. Plants and animals grow abundantly in the crash site.

C. Impact will be negligible to cause great damage.

D. No impact craters will be formed.

12. Why do meteors seem to originate from only one point in the sky during a meteor
shower?

A. Meteoroids are traveling in parallel paths at the same velocity.

B. Meteoroids are travelling in perpendicular paths.

C. Meteors survive burning in the atmosphere.

D. Comets travel away from the sun.

13-15. Locate meteoroid, meteorites and meteors.

13. Outer Space

14. Atmosphere

15. Crust

Answer Key
Answer Key
 What I Can Do:
ACTIVITY 3.2 ARE WE RELATED OR NOT?

Comets Asteroids

2
4&9
5&7
1

3 6
4, 5

8 & 10

Meteors
 SUMMATIVE EVALUATION
LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS (Week 6)
LESSON 1,2,3

Title of the Activity: WHO AM I?

Most Essential Learning Competency: Compare and contrast comets,
meteors, and asteroids.
(K to 12 BEC CG: S8ES-IIg-22)
Directions: Identify which of the space rocks is described in the first
column of the table. Put a check “√” under the column of the space rock
that corresponds to each of the given characteristics. Use a separate sheet
of paper for your answers.

Comet Asteroid Meteor

Characteristics/Features

1. Made of ice, dust, and gas

2. Appears as a streak in the sky

3. From Belt between Mars and Jupiter

4. Orbit the Sun

5. Sometimes get bounced towards the Earth

6. Also called “Dirty Snow Balls”

7. Also called “Shooting Stars”

8. Also called “planetoids”

9. Bigger than dust grain but smaller than

asteroid
10.Made of Rock and/or metal

11.Most are found in the Oort Cloud or

Kuiper Belt
12.Chunk of ice with coma and tail
PERFORMANCE TASK
Title of the Activity: “GETTING CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER” Most
Essential Learning Competency: Compare and contrast comets, meteors, and
asteroids
(K to 12 BEC CG: S8ES-IIg-22)
Directions: Create an Info-graphic organizer about the composition, size,
shape and origin of the space rocks. Be creative. Use a separate sheet of
paper for your answers.

RUBRICS
3 points 2 points 1 point Score:

CONTENT Thorough and Shows some Shows

insightful understanding incomplete
understanding of of content understanding
content of content
ORGANIZATION Well organized. Somewhat Poorly
Order and organized organized. A
structure of structure. clear sense of
information is Some content direction is not
compelling and gives evident
flows smoothly confusion.
VISUAL APPEAL Information Information is Inadequate
adequately mostly information is
supports adequate and not clearly
purpose of supportive of supportive of
visual. Insightful visual’s visual’s purpose
and well purpose
considered ideas.
CREATIVITY Additional Additional No additional
elements such as elements are elements are
pictures are used , but not used
incorporated to enhance the
enhance the infographic
infographic
References
A. Websites

https://image.app.goo.gl/njsgkBsLnHBnzkry
https://images.app.goo.gl/32LTdGtyLWvCBKiJA
https://images.app.goo.gl/7sqde2ufusgfkqyr8
https://www.space.com/amp/19878-halleys-comet.html
https://interestingfactsblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/facts-about-halleys-
comet.html
https://www.google.com/search?ei=j05cXY7tOM76-
Qad37flBg&q=images+of+comets#imgrc=LSoR_PB8gg1PpM
https://www.google.com/search?ei=jO5cXY7tOM76-
Qad37flBg&q=images+of+comets#imgc=LSoR_PB8gg1PpM
https://solarsystem.nasa.govgalleries http://www.google.com/images?imgurl=https
%3A%2F%Fimages.fineartame
rica.com%2Fimages-medium-large-5%2Fthe-barringer-meteor-crater-
rod-jones.html&bnid=97B5smYhHYzOrM&vet=12ahUKEwjgs

B. Books
Pacheco, M. G. (2015). Grade 8 Science Modules. In M. G. Pacheco, Grade 8
Science Modules (pp. 40-55). Valenzuela City: Tru-Copy
Publishing House, Inc.
Ocampo, P.C. et al.(2013). Science 8 Learner’s Module. Pasig City: Vibal Pub.
House