What are asteroids primarily composed of?
A) Ice
B) Gas
C) Rock and metal
D) Organic compounds
Answer: C) Rock and metal
What is the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt?
A) Ceres
B) Vesta
C) Pallas
D) Hygiea
Answer: A) Ceres
Which region of the solar system contains the majority of asteroids?
A) Kuiper Belt
B) Oort Cloud
C) Asteroid Belt
D) Scattered Disk
Answer: C) Asteroid Belt
What is the term for a group of asteroids that share similar orbital characteristics?
A) Cluster
B) Swarm
C) Family
D) Formation
Answer: C) Family
Which spacecraft visited the asteroid Eros in 2000?
A) Hayabusa
B) Rosetta
C) NEAR Shoemaker
D) Dawn
Answer: C) NEAR Shoemaker
What is the name of the mission that successfully landed on the asteroid Ryugu in 2019?
A) Rosetta
B) OSIRIS-REx
C) Hayabusa2
D) Dawn
Answer: C) Hayabusa2
Which type of asteroid is most common in the asteroid belt?
A) Carbonaceous
B) Metallic
C) Stony
D) Composite
Answer: C) Stony
What is the term for the point in an asteroid’s orbit that is closest to the Sun?
A) Periapsis
B) Apoapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: D) Perihelion
Which asteroid, known as a near-Earth object, has the highest chance of impacting Earth in the future?
A) Apophis
B) Vesta
C) Eros
D) Mathilde
Answer: A) Apophis
What is the term for an asteroid that enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up?
A) Meteoroid
B) Meteor
C) Meteorite
D) Comet
Answer: B) Meteor
Which spacecraft explored the asteroid Gaspra in 1991?
A) Hayabusa
B) Rosetta
C) Galileo
D) Dawn
Answer: C) Galileo
What is the name of the mission that collected samples from the asteroid Bennu in 2020?
A) Rosetta
B) OSIRIS-REx
C) Hayabusa2
D) Dawn
Answer: B) OSIRIS-REx
What is the primary reason asteroids are found in the asteroid belt?
A) Gravity from Jupiter prevents them from coalescing into a planet.
B) Gravity from Mars prevents them from coalescing into a planet.
C) They are remnants of a destroyed planet.
D) They are captured comets.
Answer: A) Gravity from Jupiter prevents them from coalescing into a planet.
What is the term for the study and classification of asteroids?
A) Astrometry
B) Astrodynamics
C) Asterography
D) Asteroidology
Answer: D) Asteroidology
Which asteroid was the first to be discovered?
A) Ceres
B) Vesta
C) Pallas
D) Hygiea
Answer: A) Ceres
What is the primary force that shapes the orbits of asteroids in the asteroid belt?
A) Solar wind
B) Gravitational pull from Jupiter
C) Magnetic fields
D) Stellar radiation
Answer: B) Gravitational pull from Jupiter
What is the term for an asteroid that crosses Earth’s orbit?
A) Trans-Neptunian Object
B) Near-Earth Object
C) Main-belt Asteroid
D) Trojan Asteroid
Answer: B) Near-Earth Object
What is the name of the largest metallic asteroid in the asteroid belt?
A) Ceres
B) Vesta
C) Pallas
D) Hygiea
Answer: B) Vesta
Which mission successfully landed on the asteroid Itokawa in 2005?
A) Rosetta
B) OSIRIS-REx
C) Hayabusa
D) Dawn
Answer: C) Hayabusa
What is the term for an asteroid that shares an orbit with a larger planet, leading or trailing the planet by 60 degrees?
A) Trojans
B) Centaurs
C) Near-Earth Objects
D) Main-belt Asteroids
Answer: A) Trojans
What is the term for the point in an asteroid’s orbit that is farthest from the Sun?
A) Periapsis
B) Apoapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: C) Aphelion
Which mission is dedicated to studying the binary asteroid system Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos?
A) OSIRIS-REx
B) DART
C) Hayabusa2
D) Dawn
Answer: B) DART
What is the name of the first asteroid discovered by radar?
A) Ceres
B) Eros
C) Mathilde
D) Toutatis
Answer: D) Toutatis
Which asteroid is the target of the European Space Agency’s Hera mission?
A) Apophis
B) Bennu
C) Didymos
D) Ryugu
Answer: C) Didymos
Which classification of asteroids is believed to be the oldest and most primitive?
A) Carbonaceous
B) Metallic
C) Stony
D) Composite
Answer: A) Carbonaceous
What is the term for an asteroid that has a composition similar to Earth’s crust and mantle?
A) Carbonaceous
B) Metallic
C) Stony
D) Composite
Answer: C) Stony
Which asteroid was visited by the spacecraft Dawn in 2011?
A) Ceres
B) Vesta
C) Pallas
D) Hygiea
Answer: B) Vesta
What is the term for a small asteroid that orbits the Sun and crosses the orbits of larger planets?
A) Near-Earth Object
B) Main-belt Asteroid
C) Trans-Neptunian Object
D) Kuiper Belt Object
Answer: A) Near-Earth Object
Which mission aims to redirect an asteroid’s trajectory through a kinetic impactor?
A) OSIRIS-REx
B) Hayabusa2
C) DART
D) Dawn
Answer: C) DART
What is the name of the region between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are found?
A) Kuiper Belt
B) Oort Cloud
C) Asteroid Belt
D) Scattered Disk
Answer: C) Asteroid Belt
Which asteroid is the target of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission?
A) Apophis
B) Bennu
C) Didymos
D) Ryugu
Answer: B) Bennu
What is the term for a small asteroid or comet nucleus that has been observed passing close to the Sun and beginning to vaporize?
A) Meteoroid
B) Meteor
C) Meteorite
D) Comet
Answer: D) Comet
Which asteroid was the target of the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2?
A) Ceres
B) Vesta
C) Bennu
D) Ryugu
Answer: D) Ryugu
What is the term for the point in an orbit that is farthest from the center of mass?
A) Apoapsis
B) Periapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: A) Apoapsis
Which spacecraft studied the asteroid Mathilde in 1997?
A) Galileo
B) NEAR Shoemaker
C) Dawn
D) New Horizons
Answer: B) NEAR Shoemaker
What is the term for an asteroid that has a composition similar to iron and nickel?
A) Carbonaceous
B) Metallic
C) Stony
D) Composite
Answer: B) Metallic
Which mission studied the asteroid Eros in the early 2000s?
A) Hayabusa
B) Rosetta
C) NEAR Shoemaker
D) Dawn
Answer: C) NEAR Shoemaker
What is the term for an asteroid that has a composition of both rocky and metallic materials?
A) Carbonaceous
B) Metallic
C) Stony
D) Composite
Answer: D) Composite
Which asteroid was visited by the spacecraft Rosetta?
A) Eros
B) Itokawa
C) Mathilde
D) Lutetia
Answer: D) Lutetia
What is the term for the region in space beyond Neptune where objects like Pluto are found?
A) Kuiper Belt
B) Oort Cloud
C) Asteroid Belt
D) Scattered Disk
Answer: A) Kuiper Belt
Which asteroid was the target of the NASA Dawn mission?
A) Ceres
B) Vesta
C) Pallas
D) Hygiea
Answer: A) Ceres
What is the term for an asteroid that orbits the Sun at a distance greater than Neptune?
A) Near-Earth Object
B) Main-belt Asteroid
C) Trans-Neptunian Object
D) Kuiper Belt Object
Answer: C) Trans-Neptunian Object
Which spacecraft performed a flyby of the asteroid Annefrank in 2002?
A) Galileo
B) NEAR Shoemaker
C) Dawn
D) New Horizons
Answer: A) Galileo
What is the term for the distance between an asteroid and the Sun at its closest point in its orbit?
A) Periapsis
B) Apoapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: D) Perihelion
Which asteroid was visited by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa?
A) Itokawa
B) Eros
C) Mathilde
D) Lutetia
Answer: A) Itokawa
What is the term for the distance between an asteroid and the Sun at its farthest point in its orbit?
A) Periapsis
B) Apoapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: C) Aphelion
Which mission successfully landed on the asteroid Toutatis in 2012?
A) Hayabusa
B) Rosetta
C) Chang’e 2
D) New Horizons
Answer: C) Chang’e 2
What is the term for an asteroid that orbits the Sun at a distance between Mars and Jupiter?
A) Near-Earth Object
B) Main-belt Asteroid
C) Trans-Neptunian Object
D) Kuiper Belt Object
Answer: B) Main-belt Asteroid
Which mission conducted a close flyby of the asteroid Steins in 2008?
A) Hayabusa
B) Rosetta
C) Dawn
D) New Horizons
Answer: B) Rosetta
What is the term for the process by which an asteroid’s orbit is altered by the gravitational pull of nearby planets?
A) Perturbation
B) Accretion
C) Retrograde motion
D) Precession
Answer: A) Perturbation