Unit 11: Other Members of the Solar System

•​ Grade 8
Lesson 11.2: Predicting Comets
​ Worksheet 1

Name: ___________________________________________________ Date: _________________________

Grade and Section: ______________________________________ Rating: ________________________

Instruction: ​Write the word true if the given statement is correct, otherwise, write the
word false.

_____________ 1. Short-period comets come from the Kuiper Belt while long-period
comets came from the Oort Cloud.

_____________ 2. The appearance of comets became predictable after Laplace.

_____________ 3. Computations for predicting comets are rather complex. Experts use
different factors which include distances with the sun, motions, orbits,
and many others.

_____________ 4. Experts use different factors which include distances with the sun,
motions, orbits, and many others.

_____________ 5. Pierre-Simon Laplace and Wilhelm Olbers both developed methods in

computing cometary objects.

_____________ 6. Leonhard Euler believed that there is a drag force by interplanetary

aether which resulted in a decrease in the period of Halley’s comet in
the previous years.

_____________ 7. Euler is an English scientist who correctly predicted the reappearance

of a comet seen in 1683.

_____________ 8. When comets from the Kuiper Belt collide with other Kuiper Belt
comets or when they are influenced by the gravitational force of one
of the Jovian planets, their orbits may be altered enough to send them
to the inner solar system including Earth.

_____________ 9. Kuiper Belt is a region beyond the orbit of Neptune.

_____________ 10. Oort Cloud is an area that lies beyond the solar system.