Nautical Sciences, Unit Four, Chapter Five: Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors
This is an Closed Book, Multiple-choice exercise.
Use your mouse to click the box next to the most correct answer. If you fail to select the correct answer you must try again until you select the correct answer.
Small bodies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter are referred to as ____________.
Asteroids
Comets
Meteors
Siderites
Aerolites
Which of the following facts about asteroids is False?
Some asteroids are large enough to have atmospheres.
They tend to have irregular orbits.
They all seem to revolve around the Sun in the same direction as the larger planets.
The largest asteroid ever discovered is Ceres.
They appear to be irregular-shaped chunks of rock and metallic substances.
What is the name of the largest asteroid discovered so far?
Ceres
Titan
Triton
Gaspra
Ida
What two asteroids did the near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft image in 1991 and 1993?
Gaspra and Ida
Ida and Dactyl
Gaspra and Dactyl
Gaspra and Triton
Ida and Triton
What spacecraft recorded the first landing on an asteroid?
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft.
The Huygens probe.
Mars Pathfinder
Viking
Venera
What objects are thought to be the most plentiful bodies in our solar system?
Comets
Asteroids
Meteorites
Planets
Siderites
What is the name given to the particles of material and vapor that surround the head of a comet?
The coma
The siderite
The aerolite
The tail
The prominence
What is the cause of meteor showers?
Remnants of broken-up comets
Remnants of broken-up asteroids
Solar wind energy
Pockets of hydrogen and helium gas trapped within the solar system
The break-up of man-made satellites falling back into the Earth's atmosphere
What are comets commonly named after?
The person or persons who first discovered them.
Great astronomers from history
Mountain ranges on Earth
Mythological figures
Kings and Queens
What famous comet has a period of around 75 years, making it a frequent sight over the history of mankind?
Halley's comet
The comet Kohoutek
The Shoemaker-Levy comet
Hale-Bopp
Comet Swift-Tuttle
The region out beyond the orbit of Pluto believed to be full of comets is known as what?
The Kuiper Belt
The Asteroid Belt
The Meteor Belt
The Chromosphere
The Heliopause
What object is defined as a chunk of rock or metal orbiting in outer space?
A meteoroid
A meteor
An asteroid
A comet
A meteorite
What is the technical name for a stony meteorite?
A Aerolite
A Tektite
A Siderite
A Breccia
A fireball
What are siderites mainly composed of?
Iron and nickel
Oxygen, silicon and magnesium
Silicon
Hydrogen and Helium
Rock and ice
Which type of meteorites do not resemble any rock or glass substance on Earth?