Mad About Meteors Trivia Quiz

Answer: true

It means, phenomenon in the sky. What we see is merely the streak of light that follows a meteroid. We also know them as shooting stars. On a clear night, as mny as 100 can be seen from any single part of the world. Only about 30% of all meteors are witnessed by someone on the planet.

Answer: Tears of Saint Lawrence

This spectacular shower is named after a martyr in early Rome. He was burned on an open stove in 258 AD. Another famous meteor shower, the Leonids, inspired this section of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between
And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge;
And the rain poured down from one black cloud;
The Moon was at its edge

Answer: Kevlar

That's right, the same stuff used for bullet-proof vests. It is a foot thick. About 100,000 meteors should strike the ISS in its 20 year lifetime. While iron is a common part of meteors, most meteors are composed of chondite. Chondite is similar in composition to the mantles and crusts of the terrestrial planets.

Answer: False

As many as 4 billion hit the Earth each day. Most of them are extremely small, so don't be scared. A meteor is bigger than a speck of dust and smaller than an asteroid. A large strike can leave a crater like the one found near Winslow, Arizona in America. It is called the Barringer Crater or Meteor Crater.

Answer: Hits a human

The study was done in 1985 by "Nature". That averages out to .0055 times a year. The last one in the 20th century struck a woman in the southern part of the United States. The meteorite was about eight pounds.

Answer: Clementine II

Anything that might hit Earth is called a Near Earth Object. The project was canceled by President Clinton.

Answer: yes

In theory, it is exploded in the vicinity of the meteor. The radiation pulse vaporizes the object's surface. This would cause a change in course.

Answer: South Africa

The Meteoritical Society demands that 20% or 20 grams (whichever is smaller) be donated for research, no matter what country it is found in. This is hard to enforce as they have no legal authority. However, the National Heritage Law in South Africa requires that all of the meteors found in South Africa be turned over to the authorities.

Answer: North Africa

They are easy to spot in the desert or ice. Over 24,000 meteorites of notable size are known to have landed on Earth. A Martian meteorite can fetch about $500 a gram. Most other space rocks are about $2 a gram.

Answer: Other side of the planet

It scattered 2 million pounds of dust into the air. It also seeded rain clouds for miles around.