Asteroids

Who was the astronomer who discovered the first asteroid in 1801?

• Galileo Galilei

• Nicolaus Copernicus

• Giuseppi Piazzi

• Ptolemy

What does asteroid literally mean?

• Tiny planet

• Starlight

• Small comet

• Robot

Asteroids are small rocky or metallic bodies that orbit the sun in the whole solar system.

• False, asteroids do not orbit the sun.

• False, there is a separate designation for bodies past Jupiter.

• True, asteroids are found throughout the solar system.

• True, asteroids are man made.

What are the basic material that make up asteroids?

• 55% Carbon, 40% Iron, 5% Silicon

• 38% Sulfur, 29% Nitrogen, 13% Carbon, 20% Miscellaneous

• 90% Iron, 8% Silver, 2% Copper

• 75% Carbon, 17% Silicon, 8% Miscellaneous

Jupiter's size pulls some asteroids away from solar orbit which creates a gap. What is that gap called?

• Galilaian space

• Jeffersonian cut

• Spockoid paradigm

• Kirkwood gap

What would it be like to flying through an asteroid belt?

• Lots of dodging and avoiding collision like in Star Wars.

• Very few asteroids, possibly wouldn't see one at all.

• There would be a few asteroids to avoid, but not as many as they show in the movies, probably you would only see about ten at a time.

• Thousands of tiny particles, closer to the size of pebbles and boulders, but no large, house sized rocks.

If you took all the asteroids in the main belt and lumped them together, how large would it be?

• Smaller than our moon

• Slightly larger than Earth

• Close to the size of Jupiter

• About the size of a blue whale

Ceres is the largest asteroid, and it is spherical.

• True, it retains is shape because of it's massive size.

• False, it is only a midsize asteroid.

• False, it is lumpy like deimos

• False, it is actually a moon.

What space craft entered orbit around Ceres on March 6, 2015?

• Voyager

• Dawn

• Stardust

• Venera 7

Which of these is NOT a main belt asteroid

• Vesta

• Matilda

• Alexa

• Ida