• Question: HOW DO ASTEROIDS MOVE IN SPACE

    Asked by 11mstock to Callum, Gina, Katie, Michelle, Sam on 19 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Sam Godfrey

      Sam Godfrey answered on 19 Nov 2012:

      Asteroids move because of gravity. Isaac Newton pretty much started physics and he said that if something is moving, it will continue to do so until something (air resistance, friction, brick wall) stops it moving. In space there is no air, so the asteroids first get their initial push from something exploding or dust clouds sticking together and then nothing stops them. The only thing that affects them is gravity, which pulls on them so they move in orbits. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one, but sometimes you get these large curved bowls that you drop a coin in and it runs round in circles till it reaches the hole then drops out of sight. This is a little bit like how space works except that there is no friction to slow the coin and so it goes on forever until it accidently crashes into something.

    • Photo: Callum Johnston

      Callum Johnston answered on 19 Nov 2012:

      Asteroids orbit the sun just like the rest of the planets. Most of them orbit in between Mars and Jupiter but because some don’t orbit in perfect circles, they orbit at different speeds and some are closer to Earth it means that every now and again asteroids can end up colliding with earth. Many scientists think an asteroid strike on earth wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

    • Photo: Michelle Linterman

      Michelle Linterman answered on 19 Nov 2012:

      Asteroids move in space just like the Earth and the other planets do. They are all kept in their orbits around the Sun by the Suns gravity.

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