Objective – Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.
Name ______________________________________________________________
6th Grade Science Text – Asteroids, Comet, & Meteors Worksheet
pgs. 103-105
Match the vocabulary with its definition
_____1. Asteroid
A. A particle producing brief streaks of light in the sky.
_____2. Comet
B. A small, icy object.
_____3. Meteor
C. A space rock that reaches Earth’s surface.
_____4. Meteorite D. Small, solid rocky bodies that orbit close to the Sun.
5. Most asteroids are found in the _________________.
a. Asteroid Belt
b. Kuiper Belt
c. Oort Cloud
6. The Asteroid Belt is found between the orbits of _________________
and _________________. (There are two answers to this question.)
a. Jupiter
b. Mars
c. Neptune
d. Saturn
e. Uranus
7. Comets are composed of _________________, _________________,
and _________________.
a. ice
b. dirt
c rocks
d. all of the above
Objective – Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.
8. Comets orbit the Sun in _________________ orbits.
a. circular
b. oval
9. As comets approach the Sun, the _________________ vaporizes.
a. coma
b. nucleus
c. tail
10. The dust and ices turning to gas create the comet’s
_________________
a. coma
b. nucleus
c. tail
11. The _________________ always points away from the Sun.
a. nucleus
b. coma
c. tail
12. The tail can stretch millions of miles.
a. True
b. False
Objective – Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.
6th Grade Science Text – Asteroids, Comet, & Meteors Worksheet – Key
Match the vocabulary with its definition
_____1. Asteroid
A. A particle producing brief streaks of light in the sky.
_____2. Comet
B. A small, icy object.
_____3. Meteor
C. A space rock that reaches Earth’s surface.
_____4.
Meteorite
D. Small, solid rocky bodies that orbit close to the Sun.
D 1. Asteroid
B 2. Comet
A 3. Meteor
C 4. Meteorite
5. Most asteroids are found in the _________________.
a. Asteroid Belt
b. Kuiper Belt
c. Oort Cloud
a. Asteroid Belt (3 choices)
6. The Asteroid Belt is found between the orbits of _________________ and
_________________. (There are two answers to this question.)
a. Jupiter
b. Mars
c. Neptune
a. Jupiter; b. Mars (5 choices)
d. Saturn
e. Uranus
Objective – Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.
7. Comets are composed of _________________, _________________, and
_________________.
a. ice
b. dirt
c rocks
d. all of the above
d. all of the above
8. Comets orbit the Sun in _________________ orbits.
a. circular
b. oval
b. oval (2 choices)
9. As comets approach the Sun, the _________________ vaporizes.
a. coma
b. nucleus
c. tail
b. nucleus (3 choices)
10. The dust and ices turning to gas create the comet’s _________________
a. coma
b. nucleus
c. tail
a. coma (3 choices)
11. The _________________ always points away from the Sun.
a. nucleus
b. coma
c. tail (3 choices)
c. tail
Objective – Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.
12. The tail can stretch millions of miles.
a. True
a. True (2 choices)
b. False
Objective – Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.
6th Grade Science Book – Asteroids, Comet, &
Meteors Worksheet – Scoring Guide
12-13 – 4
11 – 3.5
10 – 3
9 – 2.5
8–2
7 – 1.5
6–1
1-5 – .5
0–0