Asteroid: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 11, 2026

News •

Twin gas rings observed around a white dwarf • Nov. 10, 2026, 1:44 PM ET (Nature)

Facts

Also Known As	minor planet • planetoid

Photos and Videos

Graph showing the distribution of asteroids in the solar system by distance from the Sun, with peaks representing concentrations in the main belt and gaps at certain orbital resonances with Jupiter. Colored lines below indicate the percentage of major asteroid classes-E, S, M, C, and P-at various distances. Mars and Jupiter are marked at 1.5 and 5.2 AU, respectively.

meteorite fragment from Vesta

Gaspra, Deimos, and Phobos compared

asteroid Ida and its satellite, Dactyl

debris blasted from Dimorphos

Psyche spacecraft

The Chicxulub asteroid

Illustration showing a massive asteroid above a city map with a dinosaur silhouette for scale, highlighting the asteroid's size compared to major urban areas.

OSIRIS-REx collecting Bennu sample

Observe how paintball clouds enhance the albedo of asteroid leading to its deflection

Learn how we discover near-earth asteroids and the paths they travel in space

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Topics

primitive material C-class asteroid B-class asteroid F-class asteroid G-class asteroid K-class asteroid potentially hazardous asteroid outer-belt asteroid near-Earth asteroid main-belt asteroid Oort cloud Comet Sun Kuiper belt Meteorite Meteor and meteoroidmeteoroid Planet Micrometeoroid Interplanetary medium Centaur object

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Key People

Max Wolf

Max Wolf

German astronomer

Engraving portrait of Carl Friedrich Gauss wearing a cap and formal 19th-century clothing, with detailed shading around his face and upper body.

Carl Friedrich Gauss

German mathematician

Zach, Franz Xaver, Freiherr von

Franz Xaver von Zach

German-Hungarian astronomer

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Peter Naur

Danish astronomer and computer scientist

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Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli

Italian astronomer

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Johann Palisa

Silesian astronomer

Hencke, Karl Ludwig

Karl Ludwig Hencke

German astronomer

The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet

Space Odyssey

1 July 2002: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite reveals a massive solar eruption more than 30 times the Earth's diameter. The eruption formed when a loop of a magnetic field over the surface of the Sun trapped hot gas.

Brightest Star in the Solar System

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy