Name _______________________________________________________________________

Objective – Identify features of comets, meteors, and asteroids.

Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors Test

1. A comet is also known as a…

a. a grain of sand. c. dirty snowball.

b. rock less than 50 feet in diameter. d. dwarf planet.

2. A “shooting star” is actually a/an…

a. Asteroid c. Meteor
b. Comet

3. Comets are made of…

a. A mixture of ices, rocks, and dust c. Rock only

b. Ice only d. Methane and chlorine gases

4. What’s the difference between a meteor and meteorite?

a. A meteor is in the Earth’s atmosphere; a meteorite hits the Earth.

b. A meteorite is in the Earth’s atmosphere; a meteor hits the Earth.
c. A meteor is found on Earth; a meteorite is found in space.
d. There is no difference.

Determine if each of the below is an asteroid, comet, meteoroid, meteor, or meteorite.

_____ 5. Objects that are made of ice, dust, and gases that A. Asteroid
orbit the Sun and form a tail as it passes close to the
Sun. B. Comet

_____ 6. Small rocks and grains of sand floating in space. C. Meteoroid

_____ 7. Irregular pieces of rock moving through space in an D. Meteor

Area between the planets Mars and Jupiter.
E. Meteorite
_____ 8. A quick streak in the atmosphere.

_____ 9. A meteor that hits the surface of the Earth.

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Name _______________________________________________________________________

Objective – Identify features of comets, meteors, and asteroids.

Asteroid, Comet, and Meteors Test – Short Answer

1. Complete the table. Put an “X” in the box if it is a characteristics of a comet, meteor, or asteroid.
A characteristic may fall into more than one category.

Asteroid Comet Meteor

Characteristic

Made of ice, dust, and gas.

Appears as a streak in the sky.
Made of rock and/or metal.
Orbits the Sun.
Often called “shooting stars.”
Sometimes called a “dirty
snowball.”
Orbits between Mars and Jupiter.
Most are found in the Oort Cloud
or Kuiper Belt.

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2. Read the article and answer the questions.

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid
Scientists have identified the event that probably created the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

The birth of a killer asteroid. I'm Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

65 million years ago, a six-mile-wide asteroid slammed into the Earth. This may have spelled doom
for the dinosaurs. Now, a team of scientists has figured out where the killer asteroid may have
come from.

Planetary scientist William Bottke of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, says it
was probably a fragment of a much larger asteroid called Baptistina—about 100 miles across—that
had been shattered by a collision in outer space.

Bottke: This breakup happened very close, almost right on top of, for lack of a better way to put it,
a dynamical superhighway—an escape route out of the Asteroid Belt

—allowing some of the pieces to eventually cross Earth's path.

Some asteroids travel in tight clusters with very similar orbits. The clusters are believed to have
come from large asteroids that were smashed into many pieces by another asteroid millions to
billions of years ago.

Bottke and his teammates identified a cluster of asteroids that hadn't been studied. Scientists use
computer models to essentially rewind time and determine where these fragments might have come
from. In this case, they traced the fragments back to a giant asteroid cluster, whose largest body is
now called (298) Baptistina.

But there was more to the story. Bottke's team also noticed the breakup of Baptistina occurred near
an "escape route" out of the Asteroid Belt. The gravitational kicks produced by Mars and Jupiter,
changed the path of the Baptistina orbit fragments. This can pushed some of them out of the
Asteroid Belt and into Earth's path.

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2a. What occurred 65 million years ago and why was the event significant? Use complete
sentences.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

2b. Describe the sequence of events, starting with the Baptistina breakup and ending with the
extinction of the dinosaurs, as suggested by this research. Use complete sentences.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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3. Add the characteristics listed below to the appropriate location on the Venn diagram. (Source:
Canadian Space Agency).
Comets

Meteors Asteroids
1. Progress across the sky very 7. Most found in the Asteroid 13. Streak across the sky very
slowly. Belt. fast.
2. Remnants of the formation 8. Most have less than ½ mile 14. Most are fragments of
of the Solar System. in diameter. large asteroids.
3. Reflect sunlight. 9. Most have slightly elliptical 15. Icy objects.
4. Rocky composition orbits. 16. Meteor showers are caused
5. Orbit the Sun in highly 10. Most are less than 100 by the Earth passing through
elliptical orbits. yards is diameter. the debris path of this.
6. Measure a few miles in 11. Also known as shooting 17. Tail always points away
diameter. stars. from the Sun.
12. Most burn up as the enter
Earth’s atmosphere.

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 Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors Test – Key

1. A comet is also known as a…

c. dirty snowball.
2. A “shooting star” is actually a/an…

c. Meteor
3. Comets are made of…

a. A mixture of ices, rocks, and dust.

4. What’s the difference between a meteor and meteorite?
a. A meteor is in the Earth’s atmosphere; a meteorite hits the Earth.

B 5. Objects that are made of ice, dust, and gases that orbit the Sun and form a tail as
it passes close to the Sun.
C 6. Small rocks and grains of sand floating in space.
A 7. Irregular pieces of rock moving through space in an area between the planets
Mars and Jupiter.
D 8. A quick streak in the atmosphere.
E 9. A meteor that hits the surface of the Earth.

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 Asteroid, Comet, and Meteors Test – Short Answer – Key

1. Complete the table. Put an “X” in the box if it is a characteristics of a comet, meteor, or asteroid.
A characteristic may fall into more than one category.

Asteroid Comet Meteor

Characteristic

Made of ice, dust, and gas.

X
Appears as a streak in the sky.
X
Made of rock and/or metal.
X X
Orbits the Sun.
X X X
Often called “shooting stars.”
X
Sometimes called a “dirty
snowball.”
X
Orbits between Mars and Jupiter.
X
Most are found in the Oort Cloud
or Kuiper Belt.
X

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 Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid – Sample Answer
2a. What occurred 65 million years ago and why was the event significant? Use complete
sentences.

65 million years ago, a six-mile-wide asteroid slammed

into the Earth. This may have spelled doom for the
dinosaurs.
2b. Describe the sequence of events, starting with the Baptistina breakup and ending with the
extinction of the dinosaurs, as suggested by this research. Use complete sentences.

The asteroid was probably a fragment of a much larger

asteroid called Baptistina—about 100 miles across—that
had been shattered by a collision in outer space. Some of
the pieces to eventually cross Earth's path. The
gravitational kicks produced by Mars and Jupiter,
changed the path of the Baptistina orbit fragments. This
can pushed some of them out of the Asteroid Belt and
into Earth's path.

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3. Add the characteristics listed below to the appropriate location on the Venn diagram.

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Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors Test – Scoring Guide

1. c Scoring Guide
2. c (3 choices)
3. a 8-9 – 3
4. a
5. B (5 choices)
7 – 2.5
6. C (5 choices) 6–2
7. A (5 choices) 5 – 1.5
8. D (5 choices) 4–1
9. E (5 choices)
1-3 – .5
0–0

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