asteroids

o   Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. The first asteroid was Ceres, discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801. There are currently over 600,000 known asteroids in our solar system. Most asteroids are found orbiting in the Asteroid Belt, a series of rings located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Astronomer William Herschel first coined the word asteroid, which means “star like” in 1802.

Asteroids

o   As well as being the first asteroid discovered, Ceres is also the largest known asteroid at 933 kilometers (580 miles) across. The smallest known asteroid, 1991 BA, is only 6 meters (20 feet) across. Current theory suggest that asteroids are planetisimals – the building blocks of planets – that were never incorporated into one of the eight planets in our solar system. Apollo objects are asteroids whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. An asteroid impact around 65 million years ago caused a chain reaction that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and affected all life on Earth, according to scientists.

Asteroids

o   Did you know how many asteroids are there now?

   1,095,225.

Remember the number

The total mass of all the asteroids in the main asteroid belt combined is less than that of Earth's Moon.

Asteroids