Asteroid

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

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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 …

One graph attempts to connect every object in the...
on May 12, 2026 at 10:20 pm
If you've ever taken an introductory astronomy class, you've probably seen the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. This graph maps out the life cycle of stars by plotting their temperature against their luminosity, and has been a "cheat sheet" for stellar astrophysics for over a century. But the universe is full of more than just stars, and a new paper in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific by Gabriel Steward and Matthew Hedman of the University of Idaho, attempts […]
What it would have been like to experience the...
on May 11, 2026 at 10:00 pm
A great Tyrannosaurus rex strides through the conifer trees of her territory, sniffing the air. She picks up the scent from the carcass of a dead horned dinosaur, Triceratops, that she was feeding on yesterday. She walks over and strips off some more shreds of meat, but the smell is foul even for her.
New alien-life test could help Mars and Europa...
on May 11, 2026 at 9:00 pm
For decades, the search for life beyond Earth has revolved around a key question: What molecules should scientists be looking for on other planets or moons? A new study, published in Nature Astronomy, suggests that the more revealing clue may not be the molecules themselves, but the hidden order connecting them.
The material science behind a spacecraft's impact...
on May 11, 2026 at 5:40 pm
Aerospace engineers have to consider numerous factors when designing a spacecraft, but one that comes up more and more often is the need to design against micrometeoroids and orbital debris (MMOD). While most designers understand the threat, designing structural solutions capable of withstanding the hypervelocity impacts these undercontrolled pieces of material can cause can take a significant bite out of a mission's mass budget. A new paper from Binkal Kumar Sharma of the University of Bremen […]
A close brush with Mars will reshape NASA's...
on May 9, 2026 at 12:48 pm
NASA's Psyche spacecraft will get a boost from Mars on Friday, May 15, passing just 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from the planet's surface at some 12,333 mph (19,848 kph). The spacecraft will harness the planet's gravitational pull to speed up and adjust its trajectory toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, one of the more unusual objects in our solar system.