List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun

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/list-of-solar-system-objects-most-distant-from-the-sun

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 primary regions of occurrence?Kuiper Belt (30-50 AU) and Oort Cloud (50,000-200,000 AU)
2. What are the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud?The Kuiper Belt is a ring of icy objects between about 30 and 50 astronomical units from the Sun, while the Oort Cloud is a huge, spherical shell of icy bodies that may reach up to 200,000 astronomical units away. These regions hold the Solar System’s oldest leftovers.
3. Why are objects in the Kuiper Belt so cold?They are very far from the Sun, so the Sun’s heat doesn’t reach them. The cold temperatures keep their ices frozen and protect the objects from melting or changing shape.

Heliocentric Distance (AU): Distance from the Sun, measured in Astronomical Units (AU), where 1 AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Protoplanetary Disc: A rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young star, from which planets may eventually form.
Hydrostatic Equilibrium: The balance between the gravitational force pulling inward and the internal pressure pushing outward, which causes a celestial body to assume a nearly spherical shape.