Asteroid Attack! PM#1

What detail does the author use to describe NT7?

• The speed of NT7 is 70 miles per hour.

• The size of NT7 is 8 miles wide.

• The orbit of NT7 takes 837 days.

• The color of NT7 matches that of comets.

According to the passage, where do most asteroids orbit the sun?

• between Earth and Mars

• between Venus and Jupiter

• between Mars and Jupiter

• between the sun and Earth

Why do you think people often confuse asteroids and comets, as the author points out in paragraph 10?

• Like asteroids, comets look like space rocks when they are far from the sun.

• Like asteroids, comets could cause a lot of damage if they hit Earth.

• Like comets, asteroids melt when they get close to the sun.

• Like comets, most asteroids have long tails when they pass Earth.

Read the following sentence and answer the question below. "A few years ago, astronomers discovered a mile-wide rock tumbling through space."

In the sentence the word astronomers means

• people who study objects in space

• people who study maps of Earth

• people who study rocks

• people who study the sun

The primary purpose of this passage is to

• persuade the reader that NT7 will hit Earth

• list all the steps scientists take to study asteroids

• describe near-Earth asteroids

• compare comets and asteroids

What is NT7?

• The name of a comet scientists feared would hit Earth.

• The name of a new planet discovered by scientists on February 1, 2019.

• The name of a new moon that was discovered orbiting Earth.

• The name of an asteroid scientists feared would hit Earth.

Why would scientists want "plenty of warning" of an asteroid coming close to Earth?

• So scientists can warn people to evacuate Earth.

• So scientists can study what makes up an asteroid.

• So scientists can reroute the asteroid to take another path.

• So scientists can come up with a plan to destroy the asteroid or move the people closest to where the asteroid would hit.