Ast-Com-Met Flashcards
merely reflect sunlight as they revolve around the sun
planets
dust and left behind ice whenever Earth intersects with an area where a comet has passed through
Meteor Showers
leftovers of the materials that formed the planets
space debris
small bodies (usually rocky and metallic) likened to flying mountains
asteroids
fragments of rocky materials with similar composition of the terrestrial planets
asteroids
smallest asteroids are assumed to be no larger than ———–
grains of sand
some asteroids have very ——— orbits and travel very near the —
eccentric, sun
percentage of the total mass of asteroids compared with the Moon’s mass
15
T or F: If an extinction event will occur, all micro species will die like the Big Bang
F - macro species
T or F: A planet between Mars and Jupiter collapsed because of the strong gravitational pull of Jupiter
T
largest asteroid
Ceres
first asteroid discovered in 1801
Ceres
completes a solar orbit every 14 Earth years
Hidalgo
Subsequently found after Hidalgo
Pallas, Juno, Vesta
fragment of a larger body torn apart by a collision
951 Gaspra
first asteroid to be photographed close up in 1991 by Galileo probe
951 Gaspra
moon of Ida
Dactyl
came gliding past Earth, missing our planet by 27 000 km on Feb 2013
2012DA14
2088 collisional asteroid 35 miles long
Ida
Mars’ tiny moon captured from the main asteroid belt
Deimos
7075 of them are found already with 500-1 000 at least 1 km in diameter
Near Earth asteroids
open areas in the main asteroid belt that are devoid of asteroids
Kirkwood gaps
can ignite trees and vegetation
Glowing asteroids
Occurrences are very rare but the best known was the Tunguska Event in 1908
Glowing asteroid
explosive force is estimated to have been 1 000 times that of the Hiroshima bomb
Tunguska Event of 1908
asteroids that share an orbit with a large planet or moon
Trojans
Trojan asteroids’ location
along Jupiter’s orbit, 60° ahead of and behind jupiter
Trojan asteroids’ reason for no collisions
always either behind or ahead of the planet
most significant Trojans
Jupiter Trojans
an asteroid can be called a —————
planetoid, micro planet, minor planet
T or F: Weathering and erosion on Earth have destroyed most impact craters left by asteroids.
T
types of asteroids
siliceous
carbonaceous
metallic
stony composition
siliceous
most common variety, forming 75% of known asteroids
carbonaceous
asteroids of partially known composition
metallic
found in the outer asteroid belt and beyond
D-type
The —– model suggests that D-types may have originated in the ——————
Nice, Küįper Belt
naming asteroids
patterned after:
Latin names
person who have made contributions to science
names of gods and goddesses
have orbital periods of 3-6 years
asteroid belt
Asteroid belt is between ——-
Mars and Jupiter
T or F: Scientists and engineers have raised the prospect of asteroid mining.
T
orbits approach but do not cross Earth
Amor belt
orbits cross Earth
Apollo belt
have wider orbits than earth
Apollo belt
orbits cross Earth and spend most of their time inside earth’s orbit
Aten belt
Earth-approaching asteroids that cross Mars’ orbit
Amor
NEAs that are considered as potentially hazardous asteroids
Apollo
LiNEAR
Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Program
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
modular space station whose first component was launched in 1998
ISS
T or F: An asteroid could have a moon
T
T or F: An asteroid has its own light
F
T or F: An asteroid is smaller than a meteoroid
F
T or F: An asteroid can get too close to Earth
T
T or F: If an asteroid collides with Earth, hundreds of species will die out
T
T or F: Asteroids can be found only in the Asteroid belt
F
T or F: Asteroids revolve around the Sun
T
What do asteroids and comets have in common?
Most are unchanged since their formation in the solar nebula
most interesting and unpredictable bodies in the solar system
comets
Comets are often described as ———-
‘dirty snowballs’ and balls of ice
Comets are made up of ——
ice made from frozen gases, water and dust
T or F: Comets cannot survive more than a few hundred close orbits of the sun
T
The list of comets discovered have reached —– as of 2011
4 165
comets that have a period of more than 200 years or even millions of years
non-periodic