Exam 12: Dwarf Planets and Small Solar System Bodies

You find a blackened rock lying on top of the snow.You find that it is fairly dense and suspect it might be a meteorite.You take it to a lab, where it is cut open to reveal many small spherical, glassy particles set into the surrounding rock.Is this a meteorite? Why or why not?

Why does the dust tail separate from the ion tail?

Most asteroids are located between the orbits of

NEOs are a concern for every person on Earth because

The nucleus of the typical comet is approximately ________ in size.

Why do some short-period comets have orbits within the orbit of Jupiter?

Consider three comets that have orbital periods of 100, 1,000, and 100,000 years.Where would each of these comets likely originate, in the Oort Cloud or the Kuiper Belt? If you wanted to study material that was the best example of pristine Solar System material, which would you study?

The depth at which meteorites are found in Antarctica tells scientists

Earth was impacted by a massive asteroid roughly 65 million years ago.Summarize this impact's effects on various forms of life: plants, reptiles, mammals, aquatic life.

Pluto is composed primarily of

The major property that differentiates a dwarf planet from a major planet is that dwarf planets

In its 1986 trip around the Sun, it was estimated that Comet Halley lost approximately 100 billion kg of material.The total mass of the nucleus was estimated to be 3 *10¹⁴ kg.Assuming the mass loss rate is constant with each passage, and assuming the nucleus remains intact until there is nothing left, how many more times will we see Comet Halley? Explain why your answer is an upper limit.

How might impacts have helped increase Earth's water supply in the early history of the Solar System?

Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet because

Comet nuclei, absent their tails, are very dark because

Describe two challenges faced by astronomers in identifying potential collisions between Earth and Earth-crossing asteroids and meteorites.

The nucleus of a comet is mostly

The image of asteroid Vesta, shown in the figure below, must have been taken by

Remnants of volcanic activity on the asteroid Vesta indicate that members of the asteroid belt

Carbonaceous chondrite meteorites are fragments of which type of asteroid?