Space Quest 9

Asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteoroids

Lesson 9 - Good and Beautiful Science of Space

Have you ever seen a shooting star?

East Coast of the USA

October 9, 1992

​This is the only piece that was found - a piece that broke of the meteorite estimated to weigh over 2 tons!

A space rock that enters Earth's atmosphere and hits the earth's surface.

Meteorite

16 different people who captured the meteorite on video allowed scientists to study the 1992 meteorite's flight path.

Multiple Choice

Irregularly shaped celestial bodies that orbit the sun.

• Meteor

• Meteoroid

• Asteroid

• Comet

Irregularly shaped bodies that orbit the sun.

Some are 100 miles long,

some are much smaller.

Asteroids

Multiple Choice

A space rock that enters Earth's atmosphere is a ...

• Meteor

• Meteorite

• Asteroid

• Comet

Multiple Choice

Because they are so much smaller than planets, asteroids do not have enough gravity to pull themselves into the shape of a ball.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Most asteroids can be found in

• the Asteroid Belt

• The Meteor Circle

• Saturn's rings

• floating in the Solar System

Multiple Choice

The Asteroid Belt is located between the orbits of

• Venus and Mars

• Mars and Jupiter

• Jupiter and Saturn

• Saturn and Neptune

Draw

Outline the asteroid belt

Draw

Draw the Asteroid Belt

Multiple Select

The Asteroid Belt is located between the orbits of

• Mars

• Jupiter

• Saturn

• Neptune

Multiple Choice

Which ones are the largest of all listed?

• Meteoroids

• Meteors

• Asteroids

• Comets

Multiple Choice

Most of the objects in space are shaped like

• ellipses

• planes

• spheres

• dodecahedron

Multiple Select

Asteroids are made up of (select 3 that apply)

• rock

• ice

• metal

• water

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Multiple Choice

Where is the Chicxulub crater that was discovered in 1970 and that scientists believe was caused by such a powerful meteorite that potentially killed dinosaurs?

• Canada

• United States

• Mexico

• Guatemala

Draw

Where is Mexico?

Multiple Choice

Irregularly shaped bodies, the center of which can be up to 10 km in diameter and is surrounded by gases.

• Meteor

• Meteorite

• Asteroid

• Comet

Multiple Choice

Giant dirty snowballs made up of ice, rock, and frozen gases.

• Meteor

• Meteorite

• Asteroid

• Comet

Multiple Choice

We can predict when the next comet comes around.

• True

• False

Fill in the Blank

Comets orbit the Sun in elliptical patterns. What does elliptical mean?

Multiple Select

Choose two comets mentioned in the chapter.

• Baker's comet

• Halley's comet

• Hale-Bopp

• 5D-Brorsen

Multiple Choice

Comets with short orbits can take up to how many years to come back?

• 100

• 200

• 300

• 400

Multiple Select

Where do meteoroids come from? (select 2)

• Broken pieces of asteroids

• The tail of a comet

• Space dust

• From outside the Solar System

Multiple Choice

A meteoroid is out in space.

• True

• False

Draw

Outline coma

Multiple Choice

A glow around the comet, caused by gas that appears when the rock is burning under intense heat from solid straight to gas, is called ...

• Coma

• Comeo

• Glo

• Cameo

Multiple Choice

When a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it becomes...

• a meteor

• a meteorite

Multiple Choice

When a meteoroid hits the Earth, it becomes...

• a meteor

• a meteorite

See you next week!

Thank you, space explorers!