Small Solar System Bodies
Term for all objects in the solar system that are not planets or moons.
Small Solar System Body
Small, orbiting body remaining from the formation of the solar system
Asteroid
This is the central mass of a comet
Nucleus
Region beyond Neptune that contains many icy bodies.
Kuiper Belt
Small piece of rock or metal in space (before it enters Earth’s atmosphere).
Meteoroid
The farthest comets come from this region
Oort Cloud
This is the location of the asteroid belt
Mars and Jupiter
This is the thin atmosphere of a comet
Coma
Vast, distant spherical cloud of icy bodies surrounding the solar system.
Oort Cloud
Many meteors enter Earth's atmosphere within a short period of time
Meteor shower
Give three examples of small solar system bodies.
Asteroid, comet, meteor
Asteroids are chemically similar to these other bodies
Meteors
Particles of a comet's dust tail are pushed by this
Pressure from sunlight
This was the first dwarf planet discovered in the Kuiper Belt
Pluto
A meteoroid that survives the trip through the atmosphere and lands on Earth’s surface.
Meteorite
Icy bodies often called “dirty snowballs.”
Comet
Fine particles on asteroids are located at this elevation
Low
The plasma tail of a comet are caused by this.
Solar winds
Why was the new category “dwarf planet” created?
Objects similar to Pluto were discovered in the Kuiper Belt
These are the two principal types of meteorites
Iron, Stony
Name the two main criteria for an object to be classified as a dwarf planet.
Spherical due to its own gravity; not large enough to clear its orbit
This is the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt
Ceres
This historical comet returns to Earth up to every 200 years
Halley's Comet
What causes comets to leave the Kuiper Belt?
Gravity from the outer planets
This type of meteorite contains amino acids
Carbonaceous chondrite