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CH 12 Questions - 2018

The document contains questions and answers about asteroids, comets, meteor showers, the Kuiper belt, and Pluto. Specifically, it discusses that the asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter due to asteroids orbiting these planets. Comets look like dirty snowballs far from the sun but develop tails as they near it. Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the debris fields left behind in the orbits of comets. The Kuiper belt is a region beyond Neptune containing many small icy bodies, and Pluto is considered a Kuiper belt object due to its composition and orbit being similar to other Kuiper belt objects.

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34 views1 page

CH 12 Questions - 2018

The document contains questions and answers about asteroids, comets, meteor showers, the Kuiper belt, and Pluto. Specifically, it discusses that the asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter due to asteroids orbiting these planets. Comets look like dirty snowballs far from the sun but develop tails as they near it. Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the debris fields left behind in the orbits of comets. The Kuiper belt is a region beyond Neptune containing many small icy bodies, and Pluto is considered a Kuiper belt object due to its composition and orbit being similar to other Kuiper belt objects.

Uploaded by

Antonio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Phy 1040 - Chapter 12 Questions

1) Where is the asteroid belt located and why?


The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. The
reason for this is because the asteroids that make up the belt orbit
around Jupiter and Mars.

2) What does a comet look like when it is far from the Sun? How does its
appearance change when it is near the Sun?
When the comet is far from the Sun it looks like a dirty
snowball. Once it is near the Sun it looks like a bright ball with a
long tail.

3) Explain how meteor showers are linked to comets. Why do meteor


showers recur at about the same time every year?
As the comet passes sun, debris gets spread along its orbit
which causes the meteor showers when Earth moves through its
orbital path. The Earth passes through each of the orbital paths of
the comet debris fields at the same point in its orbit each year.

4) What is the Kuiper belt (the figures above show top and side view of the
belt)?
It is a region of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune that
contains many comets, asteroids, and other small bodies made largely of
ice.

5) Why do we believe Pluto to be a Kuiper belt object?


Because plutos composition is much like other Kuiper Belt objects,
there are other larger KBOS, also Triton is larger than pluto and is a KBO,
and Plutos orbit is similar to orbits of other KBOS.

The answers should be sent by one member of the group to my grader:


[email protected]
The subject of your e-mail should read:
'Phy 1040 – Ch 12 Questions – Group … – your 3 lastnames'
Any inquiries should be directed to me at [email protected]

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