Comet
1. According to your text book, what other name can comets be called?
Dirty Snowballs
2. Where are most comets found?
Beyond Neptune in the Oort Cloud.
3. Of what are most comets composed?
Ice, dust, gas
4. What is the name of the most famous comet? How often does it reappear?
Halley’s Comet, every 76 years.
Asteroids
5. Of what are most asteroids composed?
Rock
6. Where are most asteroids found?
Between Mars and Jupiter in the Asteroid Belt
7. There is a discussion in your book about three (3) asteroids. What are the three
asteroids and why are they special?
1.Ceres it is the largest
2. Ida, it has its own moon
3. Pallas, it is spherical
Meteors, Meteoroids, Meteorites
8. What is the difference between Meteors, Meteoroids, and Meteorites?
Meteoroid: A rocky or icy fragment that travels through space.
Meteor: The light made by a meteoroid as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteorites: The part of a large meteoroid that survives its trip through the
atmosphere and hits Earth’s surface.
9. What is a meteor shower? Thousands of meteors at a time as Earth passes through
the remnants of a comet’s tail.
10. There are three (3) types of meteorites. Name them and tell about their abundance.
Stony (94%)
Iron (5%)
Stony Iron (1%)
11. Meteors are sometimes called Fireballs, why?
They are very large meteoroids that look like a ball of fire when they enter Earth’s
atmosphere.
12. What causes impact craters?
A Meteorite hitting the Earth.
13. Why are impact craters rare on Earth?
Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere and never hit Earth