Lesson 8

Question 1

What is another name for a comet?

Answer 1

Dirty snowball.

Question 2

What does a comet leave behind as it orbits the sun?

Answer 2

Gas, dust and dirt.

Question 3

What happens when a comet’s dust particles enter our atmosphere?

Answer 3

It lights on fire and looks like a shooting star.

Question 4

What do people call meteors?

Answer 4

Shooting stars and falling stars.

Question 5

What is a meteor called when it hits Earth?

Answer 5

Meteorite.

Question 6

Where have many meteorites been found?

Answer 6

Antartica.

Question 7

From which planet did some of the meteorites come?

Answer 7

Mars.

Question 8

Where is the asteroid belt located?

Answer 8

Between Mars and Jupiter.

Question 9

What is the exploded planet hypothesis?

Answer 9

All the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt were once a planet that exploded.

Question 10

Can you give some reasons that this might be a correct hypothesis?

Answer 10

Craters are found mostly on one side of many planets and moons.
Comets look like asteroids and could be pieces of this planet.
Mars has the deepest craters and is the closest planet to the Asteroid Belt.
Many moons look like comets and asteroids.