Asteroids

What are the basic material that make up asteroids?

• 55% Carbon, 40% Iron, 5% Silicon

• 38% Sulfur, 29% Nitrogen, 13% Carbon, 20% Miscellaneous

• 90% Iron, 8% Silver, 2% Copper

• 75% Carbon, 17% Silicon, 8% Miscellaneous

Which of these is NOT a main belt asteroid

• Vesta

• Matilda

• Alexa

• Ida

What space craft entered orbit around Ceres on March 6, 2015?

• Voyager

• Dawn

• Stardust

• Venera 7

Are all asteroids solid rocky bodies?

• Yes, they are very compact

• No, many are just gaseous

• No, some are loose bits held together by gravity.

• No, some are living organisms.

If you took all the asteroids in the main belt and lumped them together, how large would it be?

• Smaller than our moon

• Slightly larger than Earth

• Close to the size of Jupiter

• About the size of a blue whale

What would it be like to flying through an asteroid belt?

• Lots of dodging and avoiding collision like in Star Wars.

• Very few asteroids, possibly wouldn't see one at all.

• There would be a few asteroids to avoid, but not as many as they show in the movies, probably you would only see about ten at a time.

• Thousands of tiny particles, closer to the size of pebbles and boulders, but no large, house sized rocks.

Asteroids are small rocky or metallic bodies that orbit the sun in the entire solar system.

• False, asteroids do not orbit the sun.

• False, there is a separate designation for bodies past Jupiter.

• True, asteroids are found throughout the solar system.

• True, asteroids are man made.

What does asteroid literally mean?

• Tiny planet

• Starlight

• Small comet

• Robot

Who was the astronomer who discovered the first asteroid in 1801?

• Galileo Galilei

• Nicolaus Copernicus

• Giuseppi Piazzi

• Ptolemy

Where is the main asteroid belt located?

• Between Earth and Mars

• Between Venus and Mars

• Between Mars and Jupiter

• Between Mercury and Venus