Chapter 14 Flashcards
Based on observations by the Dawn spacecraft, scientists have concluded that Vesta might be:
the only remaining protoplanet in our solar system
Which of the following objects never collide with the Earth?
amor asteroids
The orbits of most comets:
lie almost entirely beyond the orbit of Neptune
What are comets made of?
all of the above
The Oort Cloud is thought to be:
the spherical cloud of comets and some larger icy bodies surrounding the outer solar system
The NASA orbiter that ultimately landed on the surface of the asteroid Eros was:
NEAR shoemaker
When a formal definition of a planet in the solar system was adopted, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet. What characteristic of planets does NOT describe Pluto?
planets have cleared the neighborhood around their orbit
Which of the following is definitely NOT a dwarf planet?
pallas
Charon’s orbit:
is highly inclined to Pluto’s orbital plane
One of the best known craters on Earth is the Barringer Crater in Arizona. It was formed by:
the impact of an asteroid whose mass was around 200,000 tons
Meteorites are valuable to astronomers because:
they may provide evidence about the process in which the solar system was born
Large meteoroids are thought to collide with Earth:
a few times in every million-year period
Carbonaceous meteorites are believed to come from:
the crust of a differentiated C type asteroid, now broken up
Meteor shower debris is believed to come from:
the disintegration of a short period comet over many returns to the Sun
Which of the following objects would be found on the Moon’s surface?
meteorites
