Asteroid Facts
Asteroid Facts
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| Interesting Asteroid Facts: |
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| The Asteroid Belt is a band of asteroids in the Solar System that orbit the Sun in both Mars and Jupiter's orbits. |
| There are approximately 200 known asteroids in the Asteroid Belt that are more than 100km in diameter. |
| There are hundreds of thousands of asteroids in the Asteroid Belt that are relatively small, unlike the 200 hundred with a 100km diameter or more. |
| Some theories suggest that the Asteroid's Belt's asteroids were created from a planet that failed to form during the Solar System's development. |
| If the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt were combined it is estimated that they would be roughly half the size of our moon. |
| Guiseppe Plazzi discovered the first asteroid in 1801. It was named Ceres. This asteroid is also the largest known asteroid with a diameter of 933kms. |
| The word asteroid was coined by William Herschel in 1802 - to mean 'star like'. |
| The smallest asteroid currently known is 1991 BA at only 6 meters in diameter. |
| It is believed that it was an asteroid's chain reaction that led to the distinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. |
| At one time an asteroid is believed to have exploded over Siberia causing damage within hundreds of miles in radius. The asteroid is believed to have been .15kms in diameter. |
| The majority of asteroids have irregular, and not spherical shapes. They are too small to be affected by gravitational pull/ |
| On average, one piece of an asteroid (called meteoroid) falls to the earth each year. In most cases it burns up before hitting the ground. |
| 10 asteroids were discovered by 1849, 100 by 1868, 1,000 by 1921, 10,000 by 1989, and 700,000 by 2015. |
| The only main-belt asteroid that is visible on occasion to the naked eye is Vesta, which is just larger in diameter than 500km. |
| NASA established the Planetary Defense Coordination Office to help make early detections of potentially hazardous objects that are predicted to come within 8 million km's of earth's surface. |
| It is common for asteroids to collide with each other. This can result in asteroids being thrown out of orbit and onto collision courses with planets. |
| An impact event occurs when an asteroid collides with a planet. They can be devastating enough to cause extinction events. |
| The majority of asteroids that are on a collision course with earth are destroyed when they reach the upper atmosphere. |
| Craters can be created when an asteroid collides with earth. The damage extent is based on the size of the asteroid. |
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