Annie Aquino Quiz

Annie Aquino
Chapter 9
Astronomy

Why is there an Asteroid Belt?

-Rocky planetismals survived in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter because
they did not accrete into a planet.
-Due to Jupiter's gravity and orbital resonance, it disrupted the asteroids orbit and
prevented them from forming into to a planet.

How are meteorites related to asteroids?

-Most meteorites are pieces of asteroids.

How do comets get their tails?

-Most comets remain frozen in outer solar system. Only a few actually a few enter the
solar system where they form tails.
-When a comet nears the sun, the ices can sublimate into gas and carry off dust
creating a coma and long tails.
-A comet ejects small particles that follow it around in its orbit and cause meteor
showers when Earth crosses a comets orbit

Where do comets come from?

-Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt
-Kuiper belt comets orbit in the region of which they formed, just beyond Neptunes orbit.
The Oort Cloud contains comets that once orbited along the Jovian planets.

How big can comets be?

- The comet Eris was discovered to be anout 5% larger than Pluto

What are Pluto and other large objects of the Kuiper belt like?

-Smaller, icier, and more distant than any of the other planets. They have moons,
atmospheres and possibly geological activity.

Have we ever witnessed a major impact?

-Shoemaker Levy 9 on jupiter 1994 on Jupiter

Did an impact really kill the Dinosaurs?

-evidence suggests that a very large impact occurred at the same time the dinosaurs
died

Is the impact threat a real danger or just media hype?

-Impacts are guaranteed to happen, those large impacts have a smaller chance of
happening. But if it did it would be devastating

How do other planets affect impact rates and life on Earth?

- Nearly every asteroid or comet that has ever struck Earth was in some sense sent our
way by the influence of the Jovian Planets