Objective – Describe the characteristics of comets, asteroids, and meteors.
Name ______
Cool, Curious Comets Worksheet
1. Comets are not part of our Solar System.
a. True b. False
2. Comets come from… (There are two answers to this question.)
a. Kuiper Belt c. Oort Cloud
b. Asteroid Belt d. Centaur Belt
3. Comets that take 200 years or less to make one orbit around the Sun are called…
a. long-term comets. b. short-term comets
4. One trip by a comet from the Oort cloud could take ______years.
a. 30,000 c. 3,000,000
b. 300,000 d. 30,000,000
5. The gravitational pull of a passing star might send a comet to the inner Solar System.
a. True b. False
6. This is the solid part of a comet, between 6 and 25 miles across.
a. Coma c. Nucleus
b. Dust-tail
7. This space probe flew close to Comet Borrelly.
a. Stardust c. Stardust NExT
b. Deep Impact d. Rosetta
8. A comet is made of…
a. ice. c. rocks.
b. dust. d. All of the above.
9. The cloud surrounding the comet is called the…
a. coma. c. nucleus.
b. dust-tail.
10. The solar wind pushes small dust particles into a long…
a. coma. c. nucleus.
b. dust-tail.
11. Comets have crashed into the Earth.
a. True b. False
12. More than ______have been discovered and named. (Enter a number.)
Cool, Curious Comets Worksheet – Key
1. Comets are not part of our Solar System.
b. False
2. Comets come from… (There are two answers to this question.)
a. Kuiper Belt; c. Oort Cloud
3. Comets that take 200 years or less to make one orbit around the Sun are called…
b. short-term comets
4. One trip by a comet from the Oort cloud could take ______years.
d. 30,000,000
5. The gravitational pull of a passing star might send a comet to the inner Solar System.
a. True
6. This is the solid part of a comet, between 6 and 25 miles across.
c. Nucleus
7. This space probe flew close to Comet Borrelly.
b. Deep Impact
8. A comet is made of…
d. All of the above.
9. The cloud surrounding the comet is called the…
a. coma.
10. The solar wind pushes small dust particles into a long…
b. dust-tail.
11. Comets have crashed into the Earth.
a. True
12. More than ______have been discovered and named. (Answer is a number.)
1,190
Cool, Curious Comets Worksheet – Scoring Guide
1. b (2 choices)2. a, c
3. b (2 choices)
4. d
5. a (2 choices)
6. c (3 choices)
7. b
8. d
9. a (3 choices)
10. b (3 choices)
11. a (2 choices)
12. 1,190 / Scoring Guide
12 – 4
11 – 3.5
9-10 – 3
8 – 2.5
6-7 – 2
5 – 1.5
4 – 1
1-3 – .5
0 – 0
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