Real World: Comets – It’s Done With Math

NASA engineers are finding new uses for old spacecraft as a way to study comets. Find out how a repurposed spacecraft can return to a comet for a second visit to uncover secrets about the formation of the solar system. Use angular size to see just how big this comet really is!

Background Information

Grades K through 5

• NASA Space Place Comets

Grades 6 through 8

• NASA JPL Solar System Exploration Deep Impact Fact Sheet
• NASA Space Place What Is a Comet?

Grades 6 through 12

• NASA Asteroid and Comet Watch
• NASA Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors
• NASA Comets

Activities

Grades K through 8

• NASA Exploring Ice in the Solar System: Comets, the Ice Witnesses
• NASA More to Explore: Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites

Grades K through 12

• NASA Space Place Make a Comet on a Stick

Grades 6 through 8

• NASA Goddard Paper Model of Comet ISON's Orbit

Grades 6 through 12

• NASA Comparing Comets
• NASA JPL Create a Comet with Dry Ice

Mathematics

Grades 6 through 8

• National Institute of Aerospace; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Using Spheres and Cylinders to Estimate the Volumes of Comets, Asteroids, and Spacecraft