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1 | |
What is a meteor? |
| | A) | a glowing trail of hot gas and debris heated by friction as an object moves through the atmosphere. |
| | B) | A space rock that survives its fall through the Earth's atmosphere and reaches the ground. |
| | C) | This is the object that causes a “shooting star,” but before it passes through the atmosphere. |
| | D) | Large, rocky bodies that orbit the Sun, primarily between Earth and Mars. |
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2 | |
What is a meteoroid? |
| | A) | a glowing trail of hot gas and debris heated by friction as an object moves through the atmosphere. |
| | B) | A space rock that survives its fall through the Earth's atmosphere and reaches the ground. |
| | C) | This is the object that causes a “shooting star,” but before it passes through the atmosphere. |
| | D) | Large, rocky bodies that orbit the Sun, primarily between Jupiter and Saturn. |
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3 | |
What is a meteorite? |
| | A) | a glowing trail of hot gas and debris heated by friction as an object moves through the atmosphere. |
| | B) | A space rock that survives its fall through the Earth's atmosphere and reaches the ground. |
| | C) | This is the object that causes a “shooting star,” but before it passes through the atmosphere. |
| | D) | Large, rocky bodies that orbit the Sun, primarily between Mercury and Venus. |
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4 | |
How do we know what asteroids are made of? |
| | A) | Astronomers have studied meteorites that originated in the asteroid belt. |
| | B) | Astronauts have landed on the asteroid Ceres and brought back rock samples from it. |
| | C) | The spectrum of sunlight reflected from an asteroid shows absorption features, from which we can determine its composition. |
| | D) | Both a and c. |
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5 | |
Most asteroids are found in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of |
| | A) | Earth and Mars. |
| | B) | Saturn and Jupiter. |
| | C) | Venus and Earth. |
| | D) | Mars and Jupiter. |
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6 | |
What are Apollo asteroids? |
| | A) | Asteroids that the Apollo astronauts brought back with them from their trips to the Moon. |
| | B) | Asteroids near the sun (named for the ancient Greek sun god, Apollo). |
| | C) | Asteroids with orbits that bring them into the inner Solar System and across Earth's orbit. |
| | D) | Asteroids that are made primarily of gold. |
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7 | |
Typical asteroids are irregularly shaped. Why is Ceres not so shaped? |
| | A) | Ceres is near Earth; it was shaped into a sphere by Earth's gravitational force. |
| | B) | Ceres is relatively massive; its gravitational force is strong enough to crush its material into a sphere. |
| | C) | Ceres is near the Sun; the Sun's heat melted Ceres, and it solidified into a sphere. |
| | D) | Ceres is shaped like all the other asteroids. |
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8 | |
The existence of asteroids is supporting evidence of the solar nebula hypothesis, in that |
| | A) | he asteroids are probably fragments of planetesimals. |
| | B) | inner belt asteroids are richer in silicate and iron materials and contain fewer carbon-rich materials. |
| | C) | all of the above. |
| | D) | none of the above. |
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9 | |
What are the three broad categories of meteorites? |
| | A) | small, medium and large. |
| | B) | organic, inorganic, vegetal |
| | C) | iron, stony, stony-iron. |
| | D) | red, yellow and blue. |
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10 | |
Annual meteor showers such as the Perseids in August are caused by |
| | A) | the breakup of asteroids that hit our atmosphere at predictable times. |
| | B) | the Earth passing through the debris left behind by a comet as we cross its orbit. |
| | C) | nuclear reactions in the upper atmosphere triggered by meteoritic particle storms. |
| | D) | passing asteroids triggering auroral displays. |
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11 | |
What is the Kuiper Belt? |
| | A) | A swarm of comet nuclei in a huge shell surrounding the Sun and planets. |
| | B) | A large belt containing asteroids in a gap between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. |
| | C) | A disklike swarm of icy objects that lies just beyond the orbit of Neptune. |
| | D) | An enormous aggregate of gas and dust from which the Solar System was formed. |
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12 | |
A comet’s tail |
| | A) | is gas and dust pulled off the comet by the Sun's gravity |
| | B) | always trails behind the comet. |
| | C) | is gas and dust expelled from the comet's nucleus by the Sun's heat and radiation pressure, and always points away from the Sun. |
| | D) | is composed mainly of captured particles from the solar wind. |
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13 | |
Why are there two tails to some comets? |
| | A) | The "gas tail" is formed by solar radiation pressure. The "dust tail," is pushed out by the solar wind |
| | B) | The"dust tail" is formed by solar radiation pressure. The "gas tail," is pushed out by the solar wind. |
| | C) | Comets contain iron, which is attracted by the Sun's gravity, forming a tail which points toward the Sun. |
| | D) | The statement is false: comets have only one tail. |
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14 | |
What is Chicxulub? |
| | A) | A Mexican town in the Yucatan near which a major impact may have occurred 65 million years ago. |
| | B) | Chicxulub is the site of the failed launch of a Soviet space mission to the asteroid belt. |
| | C) | This is the name of a comet that may have crashed into Earth exterminating the dinosaurs. |
| | D) | Chicxulub is a type of large asteroid. |
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15 | |
What evidence to we have that an impact played a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs? |
| | A) | The dinosaurs, as well as large numbers of other animals and plants, disappeared rather suddenly. |
| | B) | There is iridium (rare on Earth, but abundant in meteors) and soot (evidence of an explosion) in a layer of clay laid down 65 million years ago. |
| | C) | Astronomers have found evidence for a 65-million-year-old impact crater in the Yucatan. |
| | D) | All of the above. |
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education