Asteroids, Meteors, and Meteorites - Sean is determined to beat his mystery competitor at a video game of "Astro-Tracker." When Face 9000 tells the kids about the Asteroid Belt, Sean realizes that the best way to learn about asteroids is to see them for himself. Celery flies them out to space, and the kids learn the difference between an asteroid, a meteor, and a meteorite. Worried at first, Sean learns that only the rare asteroid (called a meteorite) makes it all the way to Earth, so he decides that he'll become really good at "Astro-Tracker" to prepare for the future when he can be on a team of scientists who track rogue asteroids. Curriculum: Asteroids are small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun. Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do. A meteor is a small asteroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere. A meteorite is a piece of asteroid that survives falling through the Earth's atmosphere and collides with the Earth's surface. Mindy's Meteorite Stand - When Mindy and Sunspot are digging in the yard, they discover a unique rock that Mindy is convinced is a meteorite. The kids conduct a series of tests to find out and amazingly the rock passes each test. "Meteorite fever" grips the neighborhood, as Mindy sets up a stand so people can see her meteorite, and bring her rocks to assess. In the end, a DSA scientist confirms that Mindy's rock actually isn't a meteor... but, wait, the random rock Mindy's sitting on is! Curriculum: Meteorites are pieces of space rocks (asteroids) that break up when they hit the Earth's atmosphere and fall in small pieces. Meteorites are older than any rock from Earth, and share certain characteristics: density (high), attraction to a magnet, and rust.
