Comet’s Tale Word Search
Puzzle II - Clues (key)
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1.
( Kuiper
Belt ) the band or belt of small objects
formed from the solar system’s planetary disk outside the orbit of Neptune,
and likely source of short-period comets 2.
( Oort Cloud ) the large cloud of dust and rocky planetesimals
which form a comet reservoir around the solar system 3.
( aphelion ) the point in the path of an object orbiting the
sun (such as a comet or the earth) where it is farthest from the sun 4.
( asteroid ) small,
rocky body which orbits the sun; these contain very little icy material so do
not develop tails 5.
( asteroid
belt ) collection of small, rocky bodies
found orbiting the sun, mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter 6.
( astronomer ) scientist who uses telescopes to study the planets,
sun, stars, galaxies, or universe 7.
( astronomical
unit ) average distance from the earth to
the sun: about 150 million kilometers, called “AU” 8.
( carbon
dioxide ) C02 is a common gas at room
temperature; in comets it is frozen -- like dry ice 9.
( coma ) a hot
gas of ions, from the comet’s evaporating ices which glows around the nucleus
as the comet approaches the sun 10. ( comet
) small (few km), sun-orbiting body made of ices and rocky material that
descended from the early solar system 11. ( dust tail ) visible tail of a comet formed by sunlight reflecting from grains
of dust released from the comet nucleus and blown off by the solar wind 12. ( ellipse
) sometimes called an oval, this geometric shape has two focus points, or
foci 13. ( giant planets ) the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, which contain most of the
planetary mass of our solar system 14. ( graphite
) a form of carbon which is found in granular form in the interstellar medium
and in the Oort Cloud 15. ( interstellar medium ) the thin gas and low density dust which fills the
space between the stars 16. ( light year ) the distance traveled in one year at the speed of light 17. ( long period comet ) comet that travels on a long elliptical path,
such that one orbit can take thousands of years |
18. ( meteor
) very small bodies of rock or metal that enter the atmosphere and fall
toward earth creating luminous tails as they burn 19. ( meteor shower ) occurs when the earth encounters a cloud of dust grains and
meteors left behind by an orbiting comet; these enter our atmosphere like a
“shower” 20. ( meteorite ) a meteor which enters the atmosphere and does not burn-up entirely
as it falls to the ground as a rock 21. ( nucleus
) a small chunk of ices mixed with dust grains and rock, which contain all
the comet’s mass 22. ( orbit
) the path of a body that revolves periodically around another body because
of gravity 23. ( organic matter ) molecules made up of the most common elements
found in living systems: Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Hydrogen 24. ( perihelion ) the point in the path of an object orbiting the sun (such as a
comet or the earth) where it lies closest to the sun 25. ( period
) time required for a body like a comet to go once round its orbit and return
to the same spot 26. ( planetesimals ) small (few km) chunks of dust, rocks and frozen gases which
condensed as the solar nebula cooled 27. ( plasma
) a hot gas of charged particles 28. ( plasma tail ) this part of a comet tail glows with its own light and always
points straight away from the sun 29. ( short period comet ) a comet whose entire elliptical orbit lies within
the solar system, such as Comet Halley 30. ( solar nebula ) the cloud of gases and dust from which the sun, and eventually the
solar system were created 31. ( solar nebula ) the sun and everything that revolves around it, including the nine
planets and their moons, asteroids and comets 32. ( solar wind ) hot gases and magnetic fields that stream rapidly out of the sun
in all directions at all times 33. ( sublimate ) the process of changing from a solid directly to a gas, without
first melting into a liquid phase |
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