10 Hygiea

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/10-hygiea

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered 10 Hygiea?April 12, 1849
2. How heavy is 10 Hygiea?Constitutes approximately 3% of the main asteroid belt's total mass
3. What is the discoverer?Annibale de Gasparis
4. What is the location?Outer main asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
5. Why do scientists think 10 Hygiea might be a dwarf planet?Because it is round and big enough that its gravity pulls it into a nearly spherical shape. It also orbits the Sun but hasn't cleared its orbit, so some scientists say it could be a dwarf planet.
6. How did the Hygiea family of asteroids form?A huge collision about 2 to 3 billion years ago broke Hygiea into many pieces. Some of those pieces stuck together again to make the big asteroid we see today, while the rest became a family of over 7,000 smaller asteroids.

Hydrostatic Equilibrium: The state where an object's self-gravity is balanced by its internal pressure, leading to a round shape.
Carbonaceous Chondrites: A class of primitive meteorites rich in carbon and organic compounds, similar in composition to Hygiea's surface.
Collisional Evolution: The process by which celestial bodies are shaped and altered through impacts with other objects.