COMETS, METEORS, AND ASTEROIDS QUIZ
If you get stuck, all the information you need to answer the questions is in your
Zoom Into Space Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids book. Enjoy the quiz!
1: What is a meteor? 9: What is a space object called 16: Which statement is false?
a) A star moving quickly across when it lands on Earth? a) Most comets travel in egg-shaped
the sky a) A meteoroid orbits around the Sun.
b) A piece of space rock burning up b) A meteorite b) The head of a comet can be the
in Earth’s atmosphere c) A meteor size of a small town.
c) A piece of the Sun heading c) Most comets travel around the Sun
for Earth 10: How big is the Hoba meteorite? in perfect circles.
a) As big as a car
2: What is an asteroid? b) As wide as Texas 17: What happens to a comet as it
a) A giant snowball in space c) As big as a basketball gets close to the Sun?
b) A miniature star a) It forms long tails made of gas
c) A large rock that is orbiting the Sun 11: Which statement is true? and dust.
a) Pieces of the asteroid Vesta have b) It melts and disappears.
3: What are most asteroids landed on Earth. c) It explodes.
shaped like? b) Meteorites are large balls of ice
a) Bananas mixed with rocks and dust. 18: How long is a comet’s tail?
b) Starfish c) Meteorites break off of mountains a) Hundreds of miles long
c) Lumpy potatoes on Earth.
b) Thousands of miles long
c) Millions of miles long
4: What is the asteroid belt? 12: Which statement is false?
a) A ring of asteroids orbiting the Sun a) Ceres and Vesta are both in the
19: Which statement is true?
b) A ring of asteroids orbiting Earth asteroid belt.
a) Comets are colder the farther they
c) An area in space where comets b) Pluto is in the asteroid belt.
come from
c) The asteroid belt contains millions get from the Sun.
of asteroids. b) Comets are hotter the farther they
5: Where is the asteroid belt? get from the Sun.
a) Between Mercury and the Sun 13: What do scientists think may c) Comets become asteroids when
b) Between Mars and Jupiter have killed the dinosaurs? they are far from the Sun.
c) Between Uranus and Neptune a) The impact of a huge space object
with Earth 20: What did the space probe
6: What is Vesta? b) The fiery tail of a comet passing Rosetta do?
a) A comet near Earth a) It landed on an asteroid.
b) A dwarf planet c) Fright, caused by seeing meteors b) It chased a meteorite.
c) An asteroid in the sky c) It studied and landed on a comet.
7: Which of these space objects is 14: Which statement is true?
the largest asteroid in the a) Asteroids never leave the
solar system? asteroid belt.
a) Vesta b) Asteroids can be as small as cars
b) Pluto or larger than mountains.
c) Ceres c) Asteroids that leave the asteroid
belt become dwarf planets.
8: Which of these statements
is false? 15: What are comets?
a) Ceres is both a dwarf planet and a) Shooting stars
an asteroid. b) Large balls of ice mixed with rocks
b) Ceres is almost as wide as Texas. and dust
c) Ceres is the same size as Earth. c) The smallest dwarf planets
20: c 18: c 16: c 14: b 12: b 10: a 8: c 6: c 4: a 2: c
19: a 17: a 15: b 13: a 11: a 9: b 7: c 5: b 3: c 1: b
ANSWERS
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