[A] Asteroids

LET'S UNLOCK WORDS AND PHRASES 🔐

asteroid

[ 'as-tuh-roid ]

noun

- one of the many large rocks that circle the sun

The asteroid passed harmlessly by Earth, its massive size and speed serving as a reminder of the potential dangers lurking in space.

orbit

[ 'awr-bit ]

noun

- the curved path through which objects in space move around a planet or star

The satellite is in orbit around the Earth, continuously collecting data about the planet's atmosphere.

genuine

[ 'jen-yoo-in ]

adjective

- If something is genuine, it is real and exactly what it appears to be

Astronomers were excited to observe a genuine anomaly in the data, which suggested the presence of an unknown celestial object in the outer reaches of the solar system.

knock (something) out

phrase

- if something is knocked out by something else, it stops working or is damaged or destroyed

The storm knocked out the power for hours, leaving the entire neighborhood in the dark.

infrared light

phrase

- is invisible to the human eye and is often used in technology such as remote controls and thermal imaging cameras to detect heat

Infrared light is used in thermal cameras to detect heat and create images of objects in complete darkness.

LET'S READ! 📖

Direction: Read the passage aloud. Then, read it silently.

Asteroids

COMPREHENSION CHECK 🧠 A. Directions: Identify if the statements are TRUE of FALSE. If the statement is FALSE, provide the correct answer.

COMPREHENSION CHECK

In 2010, NASA had identified and logged 95 per cent of the asteroids approaching Earth measuring 1 km wide.
NEOs include anything within 50 million kilometres of Earth's orbit, with the size of mountains.
When NASA can make predictions about the possible impact of PHAs, three defence solutions could be launched.
One suggested defence against a PHA on course to hit Earth is to blow it up using a nuclear weapon.
DART is scheduled to be tested on the moon of an 800-metre asteroid called Didymoon.

B. Direction: Answer the following questions based on the article.

How many smaller asteroids are left unaccounted for among the 25,000?
What are PHAs?
Why didn’t NASA find the remaining mid-sized NEOs?
How can DART impact the moon of Didymos?
What is to be done with the eight-ton rockets at an approaching asteroid?

C. Direction: Match the words in column A with their synonyms in column B.

A	B
1. orbiting	a. record
2. approaching	b. rotating
3. unaccounted	c. coming
4. track	d. global
5. planetary	e. unknown