Scattered disc

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/scattered-disc

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 Scattered disc?The Scattered disc is a region beyond Neptune filled with icy objects that travel on wobbly, elliptical paths. It is a main source of periodic comets that visit the inner solar system.
2. Why do objects in the Scattered disc have such wiggly orbits?Neptune’s gravity pushed these icy bodies from the Kuiper Belt and keeps nudging them, making their orbits highly eccentric and tilted.

Circumstellar Disc: A disc of gas and dust orbiting a star, or in this case, icy bodies orbiting the Sun.
Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs): Any minor planet in the Solar System whose orbit lies entirely beyond that of Neptune.
Perihelion: The point in an object's orbit where it is closest to the Sun.
Inclination: The angle between an object's orbital plane and a reference plane, such as the ecliptic.