Unit 7 solar system test

According to astronomical tradition, who gets to suggest the name for a newly discovered asteroid?

discoverer

The spacecraft that got the closest to the nucleus of Halley's Comet and sent back dramatic photographs of what the nucleus looked like was:

giotto

A main difference between asteroids and comets is that asteroids are mostly made of rock and comets are mostly made of

ice

Our modern understanding of Pluto is that it is a member of

kuiper belt

In the far future, an entrepreneur with a large fleet of spaceships decides to capture and bring to Earth some valuable asteroids. If at that time, there is a shortage of usable metals on Earth, what type of asteroids should his employees search for? - none of these - primitive - mtype - ctype - stype

m-type

Astronomers estimate that there may be a trillion (a thousand billion) comet nuclei orbiting beyond Pluto. Why then do we not see more comets in our skies? - most comets are so small that millions pass by the Earth completely undetected - most comets collide with Jupiter each year and are thus not seen - most comets have orbits that only bring them inward as far as the orbit of Jupiter - most comets remain in stable orbits beyond Pluto, only a few have their orbits disturbed and come into the inner solar system

most comets remain in stable orbits beyond Pluto, only a few have their orbits disturbed and come into the inner solar system

which part of the comet is the densest

nucleus