Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors

What part of the comet forms around a comet's nucleus? This cloud is made by solar wind striking the surface of the nucleus, causing a mixture of gas and dust to form around it.

• Coma

• Fire

• Light

• Ring

Which among the choices is one similarity between asteroids, comets, and meteors?

• come from the Asteroid belt

• come from the Oort cloud

• made of rock

• orbit the Sun

Which best describes the tail of a comet?

• Trails behind the comet, pointing away from the Sun as the comet approaches it, and toward the Sun as the comet moves out of the inner Solar System.

• gas and dust expelled from the comet’s nucleus and blown outward by radiation pressure and the solar wind

• gas and dust pulled off the comet by the Sun’s gravity

• always points away from the Sun

Which of these objects that orbit the sun are nicknamed, “dirty snowballs”?

• asteroids

• comets

• meteors

• meteoroids

Check all the following statements that are TRUE

• Asteroids are made of rock and metal

• Comets are made of ice, rock, and dust

• Comets can be found in the Oort Cloud

• All the above

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

This was something that left behind a crater off the coast of Mexico that is 93 miles wide and 12 miles deep. It brought about the end of the dinosaurs and almost three-quarters of the plant and animal species then living on Earth.

• Halley's Comet

• Meteor Crater

• Apophis

• The Chicxulub Impactor

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Asteroids can range in size from 1 meter to 1000Km

• TRUE

• FALSE

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

A near-Earth object with a relatively large size (it is about 1,100 feet). It is about the size of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. It is named after the ancient Egyptian god of chaos.

• Halley's Comet

• Meteor Crater

• Apophis

• The Chicxulub Impactor

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

A small piece of rock that enters Earth's atmosphere and produces a streak of light in the sky as it burns up.

• Meteoroid

• Meteor

• Meteorite

• Comet

This small rocky body that reaches Earth's surface without burning up is called a ____.

• Meteoroid

• Meteor

• Meteorite

• Asteroid