Asteroids, Meteors, and Comets

What force holds our Solar System together?

• Electricity

• Gravity

• Density

• Speed

Match the following

• small rocky spheres when they fall onto Earth

• meteorite

• Many of these are found in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.

• meteoroid

• objects made of frozen gases; may have tails

• asteroids

• small rocky spheres when they enter our atmosphere

• meteors

• small rocky spheres in space

• comets

Click on the location of the Asteroid Belt.

What protects Earth from many impacts from asteroids, meteroids, or comets?

• the Sun's gravity

• the 75% water on Earth

• the thermal energy of the Sun

• Earth's atmosphere

What is a meteor called when it's in space?

• meteroid
• meteor
• meteorite

where are asteroids found?

• between earth and venus
• between Jupiter and Saturn
• between Saturn and Uranus
• between Mars and Jupiter

What is the composition of most comets?

• rock, ice, salt, carbon
• rock, ice, magma, frozen gases
• ice, dust, rock, frozen gases
• ice, dust, rock, soil

What are meteors made of?

• chunks of rocks and minerals
• ice
• iron
• lava

I am a rock entering a planet's atmosphere.

• meteor
• meteorite
• asteroid
• comet

One similarity between asteroids, comets and meteoroids is that they all:

• are made of rock
• come from the Asteroid Belt
• come from the Oort Cloud
• orbit the sun