SMALL BODIES Flashcards
small planetary bodies
comets, asteroids and meteoroids
small ban of ice, rock and dust that flies through space
Comets
Long haired
kometes
named dirty snowballs because
because of their composition
originate from the cold outer solar system, basically the left over pieces of our solar system
comets
T or F
When a comet gets close to the sun, the heat melts some of the ice in the comet and forms a long tail
T
made out of the nucleus, coma, dust tail and ion tail
Comet
made of electrically charge particles that are blown directly away from the sun by the solar wind
ion tail
T or F
nucleus is present even when the comet is not near the sun
T
T or F
As the comet goes near the sun, its tail becomes shorter and its coma becomes duller
F- longer; brighter
All comets orbits are _______ or stretched narrow circles
ellipses
T or F
Comets sometimes cross the orbits of several planets on their trip around their sun
T
A comet’s tail always points _______ from the sun - because the _________ is blowing it away
away; solar wind
categorized by length of 1 orbit around the sun
comet
usually take over 200 years to orbit the sun
long-period comets
usually make it around in less than 200
short-period comets
orbits the sun once every 76 years (short period comet)
Halley’s comet
period of 75,000 years (long period comet)
Comet Kohoutek
huge spherical region that surrounds the entire solar system
Oort cloud
holds millions of small pieces of ice and rock that slowly orbit the sun
oort cloud
space debris that orbit around the sun made of rock and metal
asteroids
star-like
asteroids
range in size from a few meters to not more than 900 km in diameter- too small to be a planet
asteroid
T or F
Most asteroids are located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
T
T or F
Some asteroids that orbit planets are considered moons
T
broad zone between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are located
Asteroid belt
areas almost free of asteroids
kirkwood gaps
T or F
Like other small bodies in the solar system, they are remnants of rocky planetesimals that were prevented by jupiter’s gravity from forming into a planet at that locatiom
T
irregular shapes although some of the larger ones are spherical
Asteroids
made up mostly of carbon
Chondrite
made up of silicate
Stony
made up of iron and nickel
Metallic
asteroids which have orbits that reside entirely between earth and mars
Amor
Asteroids whose orbits cross earth’s orbit and spend most of their time outside earth’s orbit
Apollo
Asteroids whose orbits also cross Earth’s orbit but unlike apollos they spend most of their time inside earth orbit
Atens
captured by a planetary orbit
Trojan
T or F
Asteroids orbits are elliptical
T
T or F
Asteroids are found in the inner part of the solar system near terrestrial planets
T
a small rocky object that orbits around the sun
meteoroid
similar to asteroid but are much smaller
meteoroids
T or F
most meteoroids are probably chunks of asteroid or comets that have broken off
T
a solid body made of ice rock and dust and frozen gases
as they fracture and disintegrate these leave a trail of solid debris
comets
small rocky iron or icy debris falling in space
asteroid
small asteroid
meteoroid
an annual event when earth passes through a region having great concentration of debris such as particles left by a comet. from earth it looks like meteors radiate from the same point in the night sky
meteor shower
light emitted from a meteoroid or an asteroid as it enters the atmosphere
meteor
meteor brighter than the planet venus
fireball
light emitted by a large meteoroid or an asteroid as it explodes in the atmosphere
bolide
fragment of a meteoroid or an asteroid that survives passage through the atmosphere and hits the ground
meteorite
meteoroid that travels through the atmosphere
meteor
travels through the atmosphere it heats up to more than 2000 C
meteor
the intense heat vaporizes the meteor creating a streak of light called a _________
shooting star
brief glow behind the meteor head
wake
persistent metallic atom (Na, Fe, Mg) emission glow in the path of bright fireballs. it lasts a few seconds
Afterglow
as earth orbits the sun, it passes through the debris causing a __________ as the small bits of dust burn up in the atmosphere
meteor shower
named through constellations near them
meteor shower
when a comet comes near the sun , a trail of dust and debris burns off and remains in orbit around the sun
meteor showers
T or F
we can predict meteor showers because we know when the earth passes through a comet’s path
T
a meteor is big enough to make it through the atmosphere and strikes the earth’s surface is called _________
meteorite
fragments from collisions involving asteroids
meteorite
cause little damage
most meteorites
in space (outside the earth)
small space rock that orbits the sun
made of rocks and metals
Meteoroid
on the earth’s atmosphere
streak of light (shooting star)
light forms because of heat (friction)
Meteor
on the surface of the earth/ground
small rock from space
made of metals and rocks
Meteorite
found in the oort cloud or kuiper belt
comets
found in the asteroid belt
asteroids
tails are shaped by sunlight
comets
irregularly shaped
asteroids
nucleus solid inside, coma, ion tail, dust tail
comets
Atens: inside earth’s orbit
Amor: between mars and earth
Apollo: outside earth’s orbit
Trojan: captured by planet/ moon
asteroid
short period: less than 200 years to orbit the sun
long period: more than 200 years
comets
C-asteroid: carbon
S-asteroid: silicate
M-asteroid: mainly Fe and Ni
Asteroid
ice, dust and gas (nucleus: rocks, metals)
comets
rocks and metals
asteroids
collision with the earth
comet
collision with the earth
asteroid
