Discuss each question with your team. Be prepared to explain the reasoning behind your team's answers after the quiz.

  1. Asteroids are
    • destroyed planets.
    • planets captured from outside the solar system.
    • chunks of frozen ice and methane.
    • debris left over from the formation of the Solar System.
  2. Asteroids are close enough together that
    • probes traveling to the outer planets must dodge and weave between them.
    • their gravity will eventually pull them together into another planet.
    • they appear as a fuzzy belt across the sky on clear nights.
    • if you stood on one you could maybe see one other asteroid with the naked eye.
  3. Ceres, the largest known asteroid in the solar system, is roughly the size of
    • a school bus
    • Van Allen Hall
    • Texas
    • Earth
  4. Which of the following statements is FALSE?
    • Most of the asteroids in the Solar System are found between Jupiter and Neptune's orbits.
    • Some asteroids cross Earth's orbit.
    • An asteroid's right ascension and declination are constantly changing.
    • Asteroids shine by reflected sunlight.