What are comets primarily composed of?
A) Iron and nickel
B) Rock and metal
C) Ice and dust
D) Hydrogen and helium
Answer: C) Ice and dust
Which part of a comet is often called its “dirty snowball”?
A) Nucleus
B) Coma
C) Tail
D) Ionosphere
Answer: A) Nucleus
What is the term for the glowing cloud of gas and dust that surrounds a comet’s nucleus?
A) Nucleus
B) Coma
C) Tail
D) Ionosphere
Answer: B) Coma
What is the name of the famous comet that returns to the inner solar system approximately every 76 years?
A) Comet Encke
B) Comet Halley
C) Comet Hale-Bopp
D) Comet Hyakutake
Answer: B) Comet Halley
What is the term for the long, glowing tail of a comet that points away from the Sun?
A) Ion tail
B) Dust tail
C) Plasma tail
D) Gas tail
Answer: D) Gas tail
Which spacecraft visited and landed on a comet nucleus in 2014?
A) Rosetta
B) Voyager 2
C) Stardust
D) Deep Impact
Answer: A) Rosetta
What is the name of the region in the outer solar system where most comets originate?
A) Kuiper Belt
B) Oort Cloud
C) Asteroid Belt
D) Scattered Disk
Answer: B) Oort Cloud
What is the term for the point in a comet’s orbit that is farthest from the Sun?
A) Periapsis
B) Apoapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: C) Aphelion
Which famous astronomer correctly predicted the return of Comet Halley in 1758?
A) Galileo Galilei
B) Johannes Kepler
C) Edmond Halley
D) Isaac Newton
Answer: C) Edmond Halley
What is the name of the region beyond Neptune where many short-period comets originate?
A) Kuiper Belt
B) Oort Cloud
C) Asteroid Belt
D) Scattered Disk
Answer: A) Kuiper Belt
Which component of a comet’s coma reflects sunlight, making it visible from Earth?
A) Dust
B) Gas
C) Plasma
D) Ice
Answer: A) Dust
What is the term for a comet’s orbit when it takes less than 200 years to orbit the Sun?
A) Long-period orbit
B) Short-period orbit
C) Elliptical orbit
D) Parabolic orbit
Answer: B) Short-period orbit
What is the name of the first spacecraft to fly by a comet, providing close-up images?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Giotto
Answer: D) Giotto
What is the term for a comet that orbits the Sun once and then leaves the solar system?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: D) Sungrazing comet
Which component of a comet’s coma ionizes when exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the Sun?
A) Dust
B) Gas
C) Plasma
D) Ice
Answer: C) Plasma
What is the name of the mission that deliberately impacted a probe into comet Tempel 1 to study its composition?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Giotto
Answer: C) Deep Impact
Which part of a comet’s tail is composed of ionized gas particles?
A) Ion tail
B) Dust tail
C) Plasma tail
D) Gas tail
Answer: A) Ion tail
What is the term for a comet that has an orbital period longer than 200 years?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: B) Long-period comet
Which spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014?
A) Rosetta
B) Voyager 2
C) Stardust
D) Deep Impact
Answer: A) Rosetta
What is the term for a comet that has a highly elongated orbit, usually with a period of over 200 years?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: B) Long-period comet
Which famous comet disintegrated during its passage close to the Sun in 1997?
A) Comet Hale-Bopp
B) Comet Hyakutake
C) Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
D) Comet McNaught
Answer: B) Comet Hyakutake
What is the term for the point in a comet’s orbit that is closest to the Sun?
A) Periapsis
B) Apoapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: D) Perihelion
Which spacecraft performed a flyby of comet Wild 2, collecting dust samples for return to Earth?
A) Rosetta
B) Voyager 2
C) Stardust
D) Deep Impact
Answer: C) Stardust
What is the name of the mission that explored comet Tempel 1 by releasing an impactor into its surface?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Giotto
Answer: C) Deep Impact
Which component of a comet’s coma sublimates when exposed to sunlight, forming the coma and tails?
A) Dust
B) Gas
C) Plasma
D) Ice
Answer: D) Ice
What is the term for the cloud of dust and gas that surrounds a comet’s nucleus when it is near the Sun?
A) Nebula
B) Coma
C) Corona
D) Plasma sheath
Answer: B) Coma
Which mission observed and studied the breakup of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 as it collided with Jupiter?
A) Rosetta
B) Voyager 2
C) Stardust
D) Galileo
Answer: D) Galileo
What is the term for a comet that passes extremely close to the Sun, sometimes disintegrating in the process?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: D) Sungrazing comet
Which component of a comet’s tail is composed of small, solid particles?
A) Ion tail
B) Dust tail
C) Plasma tail
D) Gas tail
Answer: B) Dust tail
What is the name of the mission that studied comet 81P/Wild and provided close-up images in 2004?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Contour
Answer: D) Contour
What is the term for a comet that orbits the Sun and returns periodically, usually in less than 200 years?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: A) Short-period comet
Which part of a comet’s tail is most affected by the solar wind?
A) Ion tail
B) Dust tail
C) Plasma tail
D) Gas tail
Answer: A) Ion tail
What is the term for the region of space around a comet where the solar wind slows down?
A) Bow shock
B) Heliosphere
C) Magnetopause
D) Coma
Answer: A) Bow shock
Which mission studied the comet Tempel 1 by releasing an impactor into its surface in 2005?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Giotto
Answer: C) Deep Impact
What is the name of the region beyond Neptune where many long-period comets originate?
A) Kuiper Belt
B) Oort Cloud
C) Asteroid Belt
D) Scattered Disk
Answer: B) Oort Cloud
Which component of a comet’s coma reflects sunlight, making it visible from Earth?
A) Dust
B) Gas
C) Plasma
D) Ice
Answer: A) Dust
What is the term for a comet that has an orbit that takes it close to the Sun, usually within the orbit of Mars?
A) Long-period comet
B) Short-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: D) Sungrazing comet
Which spacecraft studied the comet Borrelly during a flyby mission in 2001?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Contour
Answer: D) Contour
What is the name of the mission that provided detailed images and data of the comet Tempel 1 in 2005?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Giotto
Answer: C) Deep Impact
What is the term for a comet that has an orbit that takes it close to the Sun, usually within the orbit of Jupiter?
A) Long-period comet
B) Short-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: C) Halley-type comet
Which part of a comet’s tail is composed of charged particles?
A) Ion tail
B) Dust tail
C) Plasma tail
D) Gas tail
Answer: A) Ion tail
What is the term for the point in a comet’s orbit that is closest to the Sun?
A) Periapsis
B) Apoapsis
C) Aphelion
D) Perihelion
Answer: D) Perihelion
Which spacecraft performed a flyby of comet Hartley 2 in 2010?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) EPOXI
Answer: D) EPOXI
What is the term for a comet that orbits the Sun and returns periodically, usually in more than 200 years?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: B) Long-period comet
Which spacecraft encountered and studied comet Tempel 1 in 2005?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Contour
Answer: C) Deep Impact
What is the name of the region in the inner solar system where many short-period comets originate?
A) Kuiper Belt
B) Oort Cloud
C) Asteroid Belt
D) Jupiter Family
Answer: D) Jupiter Family
Which spacecraft encountered and studied comet Halley in 1986?
A) Rosetta
B) Giotto
C) Stardust
D) Deep Impact
Answer: B) Giotto
What is the term for a comet that has a highly elliptical orbit, usually with a period of over 200 years?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: B) Long-period comet
Which spacecraft studied the comet Tempel 1 by releasing an impactor into its surface in 2005?
A) Rosetta
B) Stardust
C) Deep Impact
D) Giotto
Answer: C) Deep Impact
What is the term for a comet that orbits the Sun and returns periodically, usually in less than 200 years?
A) Short-period comet
B) Long-period comet
C) Halley-type comet
D) Sungrazing comet
Answer: A) Short-period comet
