The Minor Planets
What is an elliptic orbit?
An oval shaped path
What color is a comet’s ion tail?
Blue
What are meteor showers?
Pieces of debris that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere and create streaks of light
What do asteroids appear as in a telescope?
A point of light.
The word “comet” came from kometes, meaning what?
Long hair.
How many moons does Eris have?
One
True or false: asteroids are Found at the edge of the Solar System (Oort Cloud, Kuiper Belt)
False. This is where comets are found.
How many meteors pass through Earth's surface every day?
Approximately 1 million meteors pass through each day.
What is Pluto an example of?
Minor planet (Dwarf planet).
What reindeer is named after a celestial object?
Comet!
What is Pluto’s surface made of?
Frozen nitrogen
The tail of a comet can also be called a…
Coma
True or False: Meteoroids are rocks that survived a trip through the atmosphere and hit the ground.
False. This is the definition of a meteorite.
What is the only large meteoroid that entered into Earth's atmosphere in modern history with firsthand accounts? (Bonus 100 points if you can guess where)
The only entry of a large meteoroid into Earth’s atmosphere in modern history with firsthand accounts was the Tunguska event of 1908. This meteor struck a remote part of Siberia in Russia.
What is the Kuiper belt?
The Kuiper Belt is a disc-shaped region of icy bodies extending far beyond the orbit of Neptune.
What was the earliest known ringed object in the Kupier belt?
Haumea
A Near-Earth-Object (NEO) is comes how many kilometres from the orbit of the Earth?
50
What can we learn from meteorites? (At least 1 point)
- Age
- Composition
- Temperature
- Past impacts
(From studying meteorites we can learn the age and composition of different planetary building blocks, the temperatures achieved at the surfaces and interiors of asteroids, and the degree to which materials were shocked by impacts in the past.)
When did comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collide with Jupiter?
July 16, 1994
What a the 4 types of astronomy?
Astrophysics: Applying the laws of physics in space. Astrometry: Mapping celestial bodies. Astrogeology: Examining rocks, terrain, and material in space. Astrobiology: Searching for life outside Earth.
What is Haumea’s shape and why is it shaped that way?
It’s oval shaped and is shaped that way because of the high speed it rotates at.
Chrondite asteroids are made of two types of rocks. Name them.
Clay and silicate
What colours can meteors appear as? (Include all in your answer)
Meteors can appear to be yellow, orange, green, blue, and occasionally violet.
What is the protoplanetary nebula?
A protoplanetary nebula refers to a disk-shaped region of gas and dust surrounding a young star
How many celestial objects are in our solar system?
Our solar system includes the Sun (a star), eight planets, five officially named dwarf planets, hundreds of moons, and thousands of asteroids and comets.