Comets Asteroids and Meteors Worksheet

SX07TR_CA8_CH14.fm Page 71 Wednesday, June 21, 2006 10:08 AM Name ____________________________ Date ____________________ Class ____________ The Solar System Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors Understanding Main Ideas Complete the following table. Object Description Location/Movement Asteroid Comet Meteoroid Answer questions 1 through 3 on a separate sheet of paper. 1. Explain what causes a meteoroid to become a meteorite. 2. Describe these parts of a comet: head, nucleus, coma, tail. 3. How can you tell a meteor from a comet? Building Vocabulary From the list below, choose the term that best completes each sentence. meteoroid comet asteroid meteorite Kuiper belt asteroid belt Oort cloud meteor coma 4. When a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere, friction causes it to burn up and produce a streak of light called a(n) ________________________. 5. A chunk of ice and dust whose orbit is usually a long, narrow ellipse is a(n) ________________________. 6. If a meteoroid hits Earth’s surface, it is called a(n) ________________________. 7. A rocky object that revolves around the sun, but is too small to be considered a planet, is a(n) ________________________. 8. A chunk of rock or dust in space that usually comes from a comet or an asteroid is called a(n) ________________________. 9. The region of the solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is known as the ________________________. 10. Clouds of gas and dust on a comet form a fuzzy outer layer called a ________________________. 11. A spherical region of comets is the ________________________. 12. A doughnut-shaped region of comets that begins near Neptune’s orbit is the ________________________.