C4L5: Small Solar System Objects Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is the Asteroid Belt?
The Asteroid Belt is a region of the Solar System between Mars and Jupiter.
What is a comet?
A comet is made up of loose collections of ice, dust, and small, rocky particles whose orbits can be very long, narrow ellipses.
How many tails does a comet have? Explain.
A comet has two tails because, while one tail is made up of dust debris, the other tail is gas being pushed in the opposite direction of the Sun as it nears the Sun in its orbit.
What is a coma?
The coma is clouds of gas and dust that form a fuzzy outer layer of a comet.
What is the nucleus?
The nucleus is the solid, inner core of a comet.
What is an asteroid?
An asteroid is a small, irregular rocky object that orbits the sun.
What is a meteor?
A meteor is a streak of light produced by heat and friction with the air when an asteroid enters Earth’s atmosphere.
What is a meteorite?
A meteorite is a meteoroid that has passed through the atmosphere and are found on Earth’s surface.
What is the difference between asteroids, meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites?
Asteroids are small, irregular rocky objects that orbit the sun. Meteoroids are chunks of rock and dust smaller than asteroids. Meteors are streaks of light produced by the heat and friction of an asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere. Meteorites are meteoroids that pass through Earth’s atmosphere and can even be found on Earth’s surface.
