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WorksheetsSolar System Debris
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 15mins
In which direction does its tail move as a comet orbits the Sun?
always towards the Sun
in multiple directions at once
always away from the Sun
always in the same direction outward from the comet
Eventually a comet's ___ will sublimate (vaporize) completely after many trips around the Sun.
frozen ices
debris field
coma
tail
Kuiper Belt Objects (or KBO's) are mostly icy bodies that exist
near the asteroid belt.
closer to the Sun than you would think.
around the orbits of Uranus & Neptune.
within Pluto's orbit & beyond.
The central part of a comet is called the ___ - which contains mostly frozen ices & rock.
coma
nucleus
tail
bulge
A comet's tail always points away from the Sun and can extend
all the way to the Moon.
just past the orbit of Mercury.
for thousands of miles.
for hundreds of millions of miles.
A ___ forms around the nucleus when a comet is close enough to the Sun.
coma
halo
tail
debris field
Halley's Comet was the first discovered to
have an elongated periodic orbit around the Sun.
have a 76-year orbit around the Sun.
contain a nucleus, coma & tail.
contain frozen ices such as CO2 & H2O.
Most "long period" comets - whose orbits are 200 years or more - likely originate from the
Kuiper Belt.
asteroid belt.
Oort Cloud.
about the orbit of Pluto.
Very small particles from a comet's tail periodically hit Earth. This is called a
meteor shower.
alien intervention.
asteroid shower.
meteoroid bombardment.
Why do long-term comets from the Oort cloud sometimes make their way towards the Sun?
gravity interactions with Neptune
the massive gravity of Pluto affects Oort cloud objects
some are knocked out of orbit by "nearby" passing stars
gravity interactions with KBO's
There are trillions of rocky objects in the Kuiper Belt.
True
False
The dwarf planet Pluto is one of the largest objects located in the Kuiper Belt.
True
False
The NEAR spacecraft visited (and landed) on Eros - an asteroid located in the Oort Cloud.
True
False
A(n) ___ named Apophis will cross Earth's orbit in 2026 and pass even closer to Earth in 2036.
meteoroid
asteroid
comet
dwarf planet
What would be the likely outcome of a collision with a stadium-size asteroid or comet & Earth?
tsunamis
not much if it impacts an ocean
massive earthquakes
an area about the size of Arizona would be scorched
What are the long-term effects of an impact on land or ocean of a relatively small asteroid?
global cooling
massive extinctions of almost all life
global warming
a wobble in Earth's orbit
Meteorites are small pieces of asteroids or meteoroids that
travel through space.
burn up as the enter Earth's atmosphere.
survive atmospheric entry and hit Earth's surface.
are small pieces of comets.
Asteroids range in size from one to hundreds of kilometers - and are
all made of solid rock.
very erratic in their orbits.
mostly located in the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter.
tough to navigate through.
Meteors are ___ that burn up as it enters Earth's atmosphere.
chunks of comets
asteroids
meteoroids
meteorites
New Horizons 2015 flyby of Pluto gave astronomers the first close-up pictures of its surface &
went into orbit around Pluto.
discovered tall ice mountains with flat smooth plains.
studied its nitrogen-rich atmosphere.
crash landed on its moon Charon.
