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| Question | Answer |
| What are asteroids? | Asteroids are mini-planets or planetoids orbiting the Sun; they are large rocks that were left over form the formation of the Solar System. |
| Where do most orbit? | Most orbit between Mars and Jupiter. |
| How were all bodies in space, including planets, formed? | All bodies in space, including planets, were formed when clouds of gas and dust collapsed together due to gravitational forces of attraction. |
| What determines an objects gravitational force? | The mass of an object determines its gravitational force. |
| Asteroids have relatively low masses compared to the mass of which planet? | Asteroids have relatively low masses compared to the mass of Jupiter. |
| What does Jupiter's gravitational force do? | Jupiter's gravitational force prevents asteroids from joining together to form another planet. |
| What do scientists believe out Moon was a result of? | Scientists believe our Moon was a result of the collision between two planets in the same orbit. |
| What joined together to form our Moon? | The iron core of the other planet melted and joined with the Earth's core, less dense rocks began to orbit an they joined together to form our Moon. |
| What is the scientific evidence which supports this idea? | There is scientific evidence which supports this idea. - The average density of the Earth is 5500kg/m3 while the Moon is only 3300 kg/m3. - There is no iron in the Moon. - The Moon has exactly the same oxygen composition as the Earth, but rocks on Mars and meteorites from other parts of the Solar System have different oxygen compositions. |
| What geologists examine to support the theory that asteroids have collided with Earth? | Geologists examine evidence to support the theory that asteroids have collided with Earth. |
| Give three examples of this evidence which has been examined. | Geologists examine evidence to support the theory that asteroids have collided with Earth: - near to a crater thought to have resulted from an asteroid impact, they found quantities of the metal iridium - a metal not normally found in the Earth's crust but common in meteorites - many fossils are found below the layer of iridium, but few fossils are found above it - tsunamis have disturbed the fossil layers, carrying some fossil fragments up to 300km inland. |
| What type of orbit does a comet have? | A comet has an elliptical orbit. |
| Most comets pass inside the orbit of Mercury and well beyond the orbit of Pluto. What happens as the comet passes close to the Sun? | As the comet passes close to the Sun, the ices melts and solar winds blow the dust into the comet's tail which always points away from the Sun. |
| Scientists are constantly monitoring and plotting the paths of what? | Scientists are constantly monitoring and plotting the paths of comets and other near-Earth objects NEOs. |
| What happens to the speed of a comet as is approaches the Sun and then gets further away? | The speed of a comet increases as it approaches the Sun and decreases as it gets further away. |
| Why does this happen? | This is because of the changing gravitational attraction. |
| If a NEO is on a collision course with Earth what could happen? | If a NEO is on a collision course with Earth, it could be the end of life on Earth. |
| What would one option be to avoid this? | To avoid this, one option would be to explode a rocket near to the NEO which could alter its course enough to miss Earth. |
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