Active asteroid

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/active-asteroid

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. What is the designation of first identified active asteroid?7968 Elst–Pizarro, also known as 133P/Elst-Pizarro
2. What is the year cometary activity was first observed?1996
3. How can a rock act like a comet?When ice inside the asteroid warms up, it turns into gas and pushes dust out, creating a coma or tail, just like a comet.
4. Where do active asteroids live?Most of them are in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, a region usually made of rocky, dry bodies.

Perihelion: The point in an object's orbit where it is closest to the Sun.
Anhydrous: Lacking water or water compounds.
Solar Nebula: The cloud of gas and dust from which the Sun and planets formed.
Impact Gardening: The process of surface modification caused by numerous small impacts.