Episode Details

This lesson concludes the series on our solar system and the different bodies that orbit the sun. The study of minor bodies, including meteors, comets, and asteroids, may seem secondary to research of the planets, but if some planetary astronomers are correct, these chunks of rock and ice played a major role in the establishment and the extinction of life on Earth. Comet hunters Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy, along with other scientists, guide this visual journey to the outer reaches of our solar system and the space debris that fills it.