Comets
What four materials make up a comet?
Dust, rock, metal and ice
Around what object does an asteroid orbit?
A sun.
What are the three main materials that make up meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids?
Dust, rock, and metal
What are two of the four characteristics of a dwarf planet?
Orbit a star, enough mass to be nearly spherical, orbit not cleared of smaller objects, not be a moon.
What is the region between inner and outer planets called?
The asteroid belt.
The time between the appearance of a comet is called a comet’s __________.
Period
Between what two planets is the asteroid belt located?
Between Mars and Jupiter.
Meteors and meteorites both started out as __________.
Meteoroids
Where is Ceres located?
The asteroid belt.
What is the region beyond Neptune that contains many frozen objects called?
The Kuiper Belt.
Short period comets come from the ________.
Kuiper Belt
What is the most famous example of an asteroid collision?
The extinction of the dinosaurs.
Are meteors larger or smaller than asteroids?
Smaller
(smaller than an asteriod but larger than a grain of dust)
What year did scientists redefine what a planet was?
2006
What is a small, icy object with a tail orbiting the sun called?
A comet.
A comet tail appears when...?
When the outer layer of ice on the comet melts.
At what rate are asteroids found?
a. 10 per month
b. 500 per month
c. 1000 per month
d. 5000 per month
d. About 5,000 a month
When meteororites strike earth approximately what size are they?
Around the size of a pebble
How many Earth years is one year on Eris?
a. 57
b. 75
c. 557
d. 577
c. 557
What is an asteroid?
A rocky object orbiting the sun.
Where is the Kuiper Belt located?
In a region beyond Neptune
What was Giuseppe Piazzi most famous for?
The discovery of the first asteroid.
What causes a meteor shower?
When earth passes through a cluster of meteoroids
Name the four main dwarf planets in our solar system in order from largest to smallest.
Pluto, Eris, Makemake, Ceres
Describe the difference between a meteor, meteoroid, and meteorite.
A meteor has entered earth’s atmosphere, a meteoroid has not, and a meteorite has struck Earth.