81P/Wild

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

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/81pwild

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 81P/Wild?January 6, 1978
2. What is the discoverer?Paul Wild
3. What is the original orbital period?Approximately 43 years
4. What is Comet 81P/Wild?Comet 81P/Wild, also called Wild 2, is a very old space rock that travels around the Sun. It is made of ice, dust, and rock that has stayed almost unchanged for 4.5 billion years.
5. How did Jupiter change the comet's orbit?In 1974, the comet passed very close to Jupiter, just 1 million kilometers away. Jupiter's strong gravity pulled the comet and made its orbit shorter, so it now visits the inner solar system every 6.4 years instead of every 43 years.

Kuiper Belt: A region beyond Neptune populated by icy bodies, including dwarf planets and comets.
Oort Cloud: A theoretical spherical cloud of icy objects surrounding the solar system, considered the source of long-period comets.
Protoplanetary Disk: A rotating disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a newly formed star, from which planets form.
Tidal Forces: Gravitational forces exerted by a celestial body that cause a stretching or distortion of another body.