Handed out definitions

Question 1

Planet?

Answer 1

A body orbiting a star that is large enough to be spherical and which has cleared the smaller rock debris from its environment

Question 2

Dwarf planet?

Answer 2

Small planet-like body that may not have totally cleared its environment of smaller debris, but is large enough to have attained a spherical shape (or nearly so).

Question 3

Asteroid?

Answer 3

Small rock body orbiting a star (smaller than about 1000 km diameter). Most have irregular shapes, but some are large enough tone spherical, have not cleared their environments of smaller rock debris.

Question 4

Moon?

Answer 4

A body which orbits a planet, a dwarf planet, or a larger asteroid.

Question 5

Comet?

Answer 5

An icy/rocky body that orbits a star, and whose size is typically similar to that of asteroids.

Question 6

Meteoroid?

Answer 6

A small asteroid… < 50 meters diameter. Down to dust-sized particles.

Question 7

Meteor?

Answer 7

Produced when a meteoric enters a planet’s atmosphere…between 85 and 100 km above the surface of Earth. We see the volume of ionized air, not the meteoroid itself, plus smoke left behind. Hooting star…fireball…bolide.

Question 8

Meteorite?

Answer 8

Meteoric material that lands on Earth (a single body or its fragments if it explodes).