Asteroid

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Physical / Universe / Solar System / Small Body / Asteroid
—————————

asteroid : any of the small rocky celestial bodies — Merriam-Webster See also OneLook

Encyclopedia

Asteroids are a class of Small Solar System Bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disk of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet, but as small objects in the outer Solar System were discovered, their volatile-based surfaces were found to more closely resemble comets, and so were often distinguished from traditional asteroids. Thus the term asteroid has come increasingly to refer specifically to the small rocky–icy and metallic bodies of the inner Solar System out to the orbit of Jupiter. They are grouped with the outer bodies—centaurs, Neptune trojans, and trans-Neptunian objects—as minor planets, which is the term preferred in astronomical circles. — Wikipedia

Asteroid Category (Wikipedia)
Asteroid (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asteroid (COSMOS: The SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy)

———————–

Adventures

Explore related posts on Cosma …

Space Rocks! - NASA engineers had quite a New Years celebration in 2019 when New Horizons successfully executed a flyby of a tiny object named 2014 MU69 while moving at 32,000 miles per hour. The planetesimal 2014 MU69 is better known by it’s nickname Ultima Thule, and it’s located way out past Pluto in a region of the … Continue reading Space Rocks!

———————–

Inspiration

This animation represents a map of the increased count of all known asteroids in the solar system between Jan. 1, 1999, and Jan. 31, 2018. Blue represents near-Earth asteroids. Orange represents main-belt asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA’s Eyes is a freely available suite of computer visualization applications created by the Visualization Technology Applications and Development Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to render scientifically accurate views of the planets studied by JPL missions and the spacecraft used in that study. Eyes on Astroids provides real-time visualization of every known asteroid or coment that is classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO). You can also explore most of NASA’s asteroid and comet missions (past and present), from Galileo , to Lucy and DART.– Wikipedia

Eyes on Asteroids (NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, NASA’s JPL & Cal Tech)

Bennu (NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, NASA’s JPL & Cal Tech)
Dimorphos (NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, NASA’s JPL & Cal Tech)
16 Psyche (NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, NASA’s JPL & Cal Tech)

Bennu Trek is a NASA web-based portal for exploration of Bennu with a collection of data from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx. — Bennu Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Bennu Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Ryugu Trek is a NASA web-based portal for exploration of Ryugu with a collection of data from JAXA’s Hayabusa2. — Ryugu Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Ryugu Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Asteroids (Astrum, YouTube Playlist)

Articles about Asteroids (Big Think)
Talks about Asteroids (TED: Ideas Worth Spreading)

———————-

Innovation

Science

NASA (YouTube Channel)
NASA (Official Website)

Center for Near Earth Object Studies (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Asteroid Watch (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Asteroids, Comets & Meteors (NASA Science)
Small Bodies of the Solar System (NASA Science)

Asteroids (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, YouTube Playlist)

Asteroid Videos (ViewSpace, Space Telescope Science Institute)

Asteroids (NASA Lunary and Planetary Science)

Asteroids, Comets and Other Small Worlds (Planetary Society)

Object Search (International Astronomical Union)

Asteroids (Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy, Wolfram Research)
Asteroid (WolframAlpha)

Commerce

Entrepreneurship

Asteroid Campaigns (Kickstarter)

————————–

Preservation

History

Asteroids: The Discovery of Asteroids (European Space Agency)

Library

DDC: 523.44 Asteroids (Library Thing)
Subject: Asteroids (Library Thing)

Subject: Asteroids (Open Library)

LCC: QB 651 Asteroids (Library of Congress)
Subject: Asteroids (Library of Congress)

Subject: Asteroids (WorldCat)

—————————

Participation

Education

Astroids – Level 1 (StarChild, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA)
Astroids – Level 2 (StarChild, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA)

What is an Asteroid? (Space Place, NASA)

Asteroids and Comets (Science Trek)
Asteroids (Cosmos4Kids)
Asteroids (Space Scoop)

Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites (Lunar & Planetary Institute)

More to Explore: Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites (NASA)
NASA Learning Objects: Small Body Data-Base Search Engine (MERLOT)

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

Organization

Minor Planet Center (International Astronomical Union)
Asteroids & Remote Planets Section (British Astronomical Association)

News

Asteroids (Nova Research Highlights, American Astronomical Society)
Asteroid (EurekaAlert, AAAS)
Asteroids (JSTOR)
Asteroids, Comets and Meteors (Science Daily)
Asteroid (Phys.org)

Recent News from Phys.org …

Discovery reveals rapid pathways to complex...
on August 27, 2026 at 10:30 pm
A team of researchers led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry has uncovered a faster way large carbon-based molecules may form in space, helping solve a long-standing mystery about how some of the building blocks of the universe grow.
Lunar soil reads as a cosmic time capsule for...
on August 25, 2026 at 5:40 pm
When a star reaches its final stages of life, it ends in a bright, powerful explosion called a supernova and scatters material across the universe. A new study led by a University of Hawai'i at Mānoa researcher has discovered that the moon's mixed-up soil can be read as a cosmic time capsule for exploding stars. The work is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Naked photobombing comet found in public image
on August 25, 2026 at 5:20 pm
Sometimes images are released before anyone realizes they have been photobombed, meaning something unexpected showed up in the background. A team of researchers found a naked photobombing comet in publicly available archival data from the Subaru Telescope, resulting not in mirth but in serious scientific discoveries.
Meteorite dust holds records of magnetism that...
on August 24, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Around 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was little more than a giant ball of gas and dust. Over the next few million years, this "solar nebula" underwent a huge transformation, flattening into a disk of matter that then condensed to form the central sun and orbiting planets.
New study reveals how space rocks become...
on August 24, 2026 at 9:00 pm
What happens to a space rock as it falls through Earth's atmosphere and becomes a meteorite? By studying 75 meteorite falls captured on video and in photographs, researchers identified seven distinct phases in the journey from space rock to meteorite. Their findings show that melting and fragmentation, rather than simply evaporation and "burning up," control how a rock loses mass, slows down and ultimately reaches the ground. The journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science published these […]