Meteors Comets NyeKEY - Anchorage School District

Astronomy Name __________KEY_______________

Meteors and Comets

Bill Nye

1. What is a meteor?

A burning piece of space rock hitting our atmosphere

2. How is a comet described?
A “Dirty Snowball” or ice and dust, a “hairy star”

3. What do both comets and meteoroids have in common with other solar system objects?

All orbit the sun in elliptical orbits

4. Which has a MORE elliptical orbit: comet or meteoroid? Circle your choice!

5. Which planet was observed while being struck by 20 pieces of a comet?

a. How fast were the comet fragments moving? _60_ km/sec
b. How large an impact did they make? Size of Earth!

6. Meteoroids are made of ___rock__ and __metal__ that orbit the Sun.

7. Comets are made of ___dust__ and ____ice___ that orbit the Sun.

8. What characteristics help identify a rock as a meteorite?
Very dense, magnetic, and can see a “fusion crust” (mottled surface)

9. What was killed by a meteorite in Egypt? Dog

10. Bill describes a meteorite as a cosmic __time_ _capsule_, or remnant of material left
from the formation of our solar system.

11. Why isn’t Earth covered with craters like the Moon? Wind, water, volcanoes (erosion
and plate tectonics), and our atmosphere burns up most of them

12. What evidence is there at Meteor Crater (in Arizona) that the crater was caused by a
meteor? List at least two pieces of evidence.
Large, Round shape and raised rim, also different colored rocks present

13. A comet has TWO tails: one made with charged particles called the __ion_ tail, and the

curved tail made of meteoroids called the __dust_ tail.

14. A meteoroid is a small _____asteroid___; a meteor is what we see __burning up_in our
atmosphere_; and the meteorite is found __on the ground__.

15. On any night, you can see __one__ meteor(s) per hour.

Other Comet and Meteor Notes
16. How are comets named? After WHO finds it (and reports it first!)

17. How are meteorites named? After WHERE it is found (closest city, mountain)

ESA Rosetta page http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEM3NV0PGQD_0.html
18. Where do many comets come from? Beyond ____________(planet) in _________ Belt.
19. What causes the comet to change orbit?
20. In which direction does the tail of the comet ALWAYS point? Draw the correct size and
direction of the tail on the comet located at the 4 positions (A-D) around the Sun.

A

DB

C
At what point is the comet moving the fastest? ______ ; … the slowest? _______
Use website above to help fill in questions 18-20.
21. Use your knowledge of comets and meteors vocabulary to decide what each of the
following is describing. Write meteor, meteorite, meteoroid, asteroid, or comet after
each description. Use notes on other side to help answer
a. Falling star ______________
b. Dust and ice ______________
c. “Hairy star” ______________
d. Found on the ground ______________
e. Rock or metal floating in space ________________
f. Has a long tail ______________
g. Can be seen for weeks or months nightly _____________
h. Will be only seen for seconds _______________
i. Remnant of our solar system formation ___________ or ____________ or _________
j. Can be stony or mostly iron and nickel ___________________
k. Large rock with metal floating in space ___________________
l. Small asteroid _________________