Deck 25: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets

Question 1

Which statement is true about asteroids?

A) All asteroids are found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
B) Asteroids are also called dwarf planets.
C) Asteroids have an irregular shape and are battered by impact cratering.
D) All asteroids have bright, reflective surfaces.
E) Asteroids originated from older moons.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Earth is hit about once a week by meter-size asteroids.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

What do the size and shape of Widmanstätten patters indicate?

A) the age of the meteorite
B) that the molten metal of the meteorite cooled very slowly
C) the metallic content of the core of the meteorite
D) the origination of the meteorite
E) the number of organic compounds found within the meteorite

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What do we learn by studying chondrites?

A) Earth's early composition
B) the history of comets from the Oort cloud
C) the different formations of the Terrestrial and Jovian planets
D) the steps in planetary differentiation
E) the conditions and processes from the early days of the solar nebula

Question 5

Comets are solid objects.

Question 6

On any clear night, you can see 3 to 15 meteors per hour.

Question 7

What kind of asteroid crosses into Earth's orbit?

A) Apollo object
B) Amor object
C) Centaur asteroids
D) Kirkwood objects
E) Trojan asteroids

Question 8

Iron meteorites are easy to recognize because a magnet can stick to them.

Question 9

When you document the time and place of a meteorite as it streams through the atmosphere, it is considered a(n) ____.

A) fall
B) find
C) meteoroid
D) chondrite
E) impactor

Question 10

Most asteroids are very regular in shape with bright surfaces.

Question 11

What is so special about the carbonaceous chondrites?

A) rich in hydrogen and helium
B) rich in organic compounds
C) rich in nitrogen
D) rich in oxygen
E) rich in rare metals, such as gold

Question 12

Only about three comets per year plunge into the Sun and are destroyed.

Question 13

Why is it easier to locate meteorites in Antarctica than anywhere else on Earth?

A) Antarctica is an easy location for humans to access.
B) More scientists are in the area to find meteorites.
C) When meteorites land, they melt a small crater on the ice.
D) Meteorites are easy to detect on top of the ice where there are no Earth rocks.
E) Meteorites fall most often through the ozone hole above the South Pole.

Question 14

Some astronomers speculate there are as many Trojan asteroids around Jupiter as asteroids in the asteroid belt.

Question 15

Once an object strikes Earth's surface, it is called a "meteor".

Question 16

Most meteors come from pieces of comets.

Question 17

Comet dust particles that later encounter Earth are seen as meteors.

Question 18

What do CAIs include?

A) carbon and aluminum
B) carbon and ammonium
C) calcium and argon
D) chlorine and argon
E) calcium and aluminum

Question 19

Stony meteorites are common among falls.

Question 20

Asteroid 2004 MN4 is predicted to strike Earth in 2029.

Question 21

What do scientists believe to have caused the Tunguska event?

A) a comet
B) an iron asteroid
C) a stony-iron meteorite
D) a stony asteroid
E) a carbonaceous chondrite

Question 22

Which comet hit Jupiter in 1994?

A) Comet Tempel 1
B) Comet Kohoutek
C) Comet Hale-Bopp
D) Comet Halley
E) Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

Question 23

What eventually happens to a comet when its orbit brings it into the inner Solar System?

A) It builds up speed and increases its orbital period.
B) It is vaporized by the Sun, becoming inactive rock and dust.
C) It is pulled in by the gravitation forces of a Terrestrial planet.
D) It is blasted apart by asteroids within the asteroid belt.
E) It absorbs more ice and rock from asteroids within the asteroid belt.

Question 24

What kind of asteroid crosses into Mars' orbit?

A) Apollo object
B) Amor object
C) Centaur asteroids
D) Kirkwood objects
E) Trojan asteroids

Question 25

A ____ is produced by ionized gas carried away from the comet by solar wind.

A) nucleus
B) coma
C) dust tail
D) gas tail
E) chondrule

Question 26

What is the largest object found between Mars and Jupiter?

A) Comet Halley
B) Asteroid Ceres
C) Comet Hale-Bopp
D) Comet Tempel
E) Asteroid Vesta

Question 27

Which type of asteroid is classified as rocky, bright, and reddish?

A) C-type
B) F-type
C) M-type
D) S-type
E) V-type

Question 28

Why don't short-period comets have randomly oriented orbits?

A) Their orbits have been altered by encounters with planets.
B) Their orbits are altered by the Sun's gravitational pull.
C) Their orbits have been altered by impacts from asteroids.
D) Their orbits have been altered by the Lagrange points of Jupiter.
E) Their orbits have been altered by solar wind particles from a CME.

Question 29

What are the most common type of meteorite?

A) chondrites
B) chondrules
C) iron meteorites
D) carbonaceous chondrites
E) calcium-rich carbonites

Question 30

Which type of asteroid is classified to be dark as coal and probably carbonaceous?

A) C-type
B) F-type
C) M-type
D) S-type
E) V-type

Question 31

What type of celestial bodies are found within the Oort cloud?

A) terrestrial-like planets
B) planetesimals
C) icy gas giants
D) dust and rock
E) icy bodies

Question 32

Which type of asteroid is classified only slightly red, mostly consisting of an iron-nickel alloy?

A) C-type
B) F-type
C) M-type
D) S-type
E) V-type

Question 33

The ____ of a comet is a lump of fragile, porous material containing ices of water, carbon dioxide, and ammonia.

A) nucleus
B) coma
C) dust tail
D) gas tail
E) chondrule

Question 34

Where are S-type asteroids typically found in the Solar System?

A) in the Kuiper belt
B) the inner asteroid belt
C) the outer asteroid belt
D) at the Lagrange points of Jupiter
E) near Earth

Question 35

Where on Earth is the impact crater that scientists believe caused the extinction of dinosaurs?

A) Flagstaff, Arizona
B) Chicxulub, Mexico
C) Aricebo, Puerto Rico
D) Mauna Kea, Hawaii
E) Antarctica

Question 36

What causes the meteor showers we witness on Earth?

A) Earth passes through comet dust particles.
B) Earth passes through remnants of an impacted asteroid.
C) Earth passes through the asteroid belt.
D) Earth passes through the coma of a comet.
E) Earth passes through solar wind particles.

Question 37

What are Sun grazers?

A) asteroids that impact the Sun
B) meteors that impact the Sun
C) any celestial body that orbits the Sun
D) asteroids that come in close proximity to the Sun
E) comets that come in close proximity to the Sun

Question 38

A Trojan asteroid is caught within the Lagrange points of which planet?

A) Venus
B) Earth
C) Mars
D) Jupiter
E) Neptune

Question 39

Armor asteroids cross into the orbit of which planet?

A) Mercury
B) Venus
C) Earth
D) Mars
E) Jupiter

Question 40

About how far is the Oort cloud from the Sun?

A) 3 to 5 AU
B) 45 to 60 AU
C) 100 to 1000 AU
D) 10,000 to 100,000 AU
E) 4.6 billion AU

Question 42

Nearly all meteors are material from _______________.

Question 43

Why is it important to look closely at the bands of the interior of a meteorite?

Question 44

Eugene Shoemaker proved that the Barringer Crater is the result of an impact because he found _______________ in and around the crater that had been subjected to pressures higher than those produced by a volcano.

Question 45

The best place to search for meteorites on Earth is in parts of _______________.

Question 46

Nonbelt asteroids can become trapped in the _______________ along Jupiter's orbit.

Question 47

Sequence the events in the origination of different types of meteorites.

Question 48

In what type of meteorites are Widmanstätten patterns found?

A) stony
B) iron
C) stony-iron
D) carbonaceous
E) centaur

Question 49

_______________ objects are asteroids with orbits that carry them into the inner Solar System.

Question 50

Stony meteorites called _______________ tend to be rock with a composition similar to Earth's basalts with no volatiles.

Question 51

What space mission has collected data on Vesta, with its next destination to be Ceres?

A) New Horizons
B) HST
C) SOHO
D) Dawn
E) Deep Impact

Question 52

A meteorite that is discovered on or in the ground, but not seen to fall, is called a(n) _______________.

Question 53

Orbits almost free of asteroids within the asteroid belt are called _______________.

Question 54

Gas and dust released by a comet's icy nucleus produce a(n) _______________ and are then blown outward, away from the Sun.

Question 55

Long-period comets originate in the _______________.

Question 56

Why is it easier to find an iron meteorite on the ground that it is to witness one fall?

Question 57

_______________ are comets that come very close to the Sun.

Question 58

What do astronomers believe asteroids are remnants of and why?

Question 59

What do you think would happen to life on Earth if Earth was hit by a large (1 km or bigger) asteroid or comet?

Question 60

Most types of chondrites contain _______________, small bits of glassy rock only a few millimeters across.

Question 61

Differentiate the S-, C- and M-type asteroids.

Question 62

Are comets common?  Explain why or why not.

Question 63

Explain the phenomenon of Kirkwood gaps. Where can they occur?

Question 64

Which characteristics of asteroids are used to classify them?

Question 65

Do all comets have tails? Explain how comets form their tails.