A Smashing Display Additional Information

December 14, 2011 at 8:53 pm

Recommended Web sites:

For further information about the Deep Impact space mission, go to www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html (NASA) and deepimpact.umd.edu/home/index.html(University of Maryland).

2005. NASA’s Deep Impact generates its own spectacular photo flash. NASA press release. July 4. Available at www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/media/deepimpact-070405-2.html.

To learn more about experiments at Brown University to study what might happen to a comet hit by a projectile, go to www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2004-05/04-148.html (Brown University).

Cowen, Ron. 2005. A grand slam. Science News 168(July 9):22. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050709/bob7.asp.

McDonagh, Sorcha. 2004. Catching a comet’s tail. Science News for Kids (Jan. 14). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20040114/Note2.asp.

Sohn, Emily. 2003. Sky dust keeps falling on your head. Science News for Kids (Aug. 13).

Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20030813/Feature1.asp.

Deep Impact lesson plans and activities for teachers: deepimpact.umd.edu/educ/index.html(University of Maryland).

Books recommended by SearchIt!Science:

Comets, Asteroids, and Meteorites— Roy A. Gallant

Published by Benchmark Books/Marshall Cavendish, 2001.

Hairy stars, missing planets, and falling skies? Don’t panic! It’s just Roy Gallant describing the properties of comets, asteroids, and meteorites. Full-page color photographs bring these “out-of-this-world” concepts “down to Earth” for the reader. Find out about icebergs in space, the chances of Earth being struck by an extraterrestrial object, and get a glimpse of the view from space in the pages of this book.

Killer Rocks from Outer Space: Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites— Steven N. Koppes

Published by Lerner Publishing, 2004.

Yes, there are lumps of dusty ice silently streaking through space as you read this. So what, you might ask? Well, just one of these lumps is capable of wiping out our entire civilization, if it were to hit Earth. This fascinating book traces the history of impacts upon planet Earth. It explains how scientists track asteroids and comets. Also, it goes in-depth into how we recognize impact craters and scars, using Meteor Crater in Arizona as an example and discussing astroblemes and tektites. Then, the book discusses what happened to the dinosaurs, mass extinctions, impacts upon other planets, and the present and future threat of meteor collisions.

Collision Course! Cosmic Impacts and Life on Earth — Fred Bortz

Published by Millbrook Press, 2001.

What happens when comets and asteroids collide with planets? Meet the people who study and try to understand occurrences such as the Tunguska event of 1908 in Siberia or the crash of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in 1994. Explore how scientists detect asteroids and how they might be able to prevent near-Earth asteroids from colliding with the planet.

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Power Words

From The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary and The American Heritage® Children’s Science Dictionary.

comet A mass of ice, frozen gases, and dust particles that travels around the Sun in a long path. When a comet comes close to the Sun, it can be seen in the sky as a bright object with a glowing head and a long, streaming tail.

projectile An object that is shot or thrown forward through the air or through space. Bullets and rockets are projectiles.

shock wave A large wave that forms when a substance or an object moves through a fluid so fast that the waves in the fluid pile up on each other. Shock waves can be caused by

explosions or by objects moving through a fluid at a speed greater than the speed of sound. Airplanes traveling at supersonic speeds create shock waves.

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