Space Rocks!
Okay, let’s be real. The solar system is full of rocks. That may not sound very exciting, but one of those rocks happens to contain the only known examples of living organisms. Other rocky objects in space may or may not have life (there are ongoing missions to investigate this possibility on worlds beyond Earth), but they can all be sorted and classified based on various properties.
Curricular Connection
- MS-ESS1-3: Earth’s Place in the Universe: Properties of objects in the solar system
Required Materials
From the Text
“Today we’re going to look at rocks! Okay, maybe that is a little boring.” 04.150
Notes and Disclaimers
Where possible, the printable cards use an actual photograph of the object in question. However, artistic depictions were used for Eris, Makemake, Haumea, and Psyche, as we do not yet have high-quality images of these bodies. All diameters of comets refer to the comet nucleus (omitting any observed coma or tails).
Additional Resources
- NASA Space Place: All About Pluto (trust us, this is bound to be a contentious one in the card sort, even though kids have spent their whole lives with Pluto being categorized as a dwarf planet)
- Ask a NASA Scientist: What’s the difference between asteroids, comets, and meteors?
- One Moon Among Many: An educator resource from the Canadian Space Agency