National Aeronautics and

Space Administration Asteroids

ASTEROIDS are rocky fragments left over from the formation of the solar In 1997, instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope mapped Vesta, one of Significant Dates
system about 4.6 billion years ago. Most of these fragments of ancient space the largest asteroids, and found an enormous crater formed a billion years
rubble—sometimes referred to by scientists as minor planets—can be ago. Interestingly, Vesta is an uncommon asteroid type, yet meteorites hav- 1801 First asteroid, Ceres, discovered by Piazzi.
found orbiting the Sun in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. This region in our ing the same composition have been found on Earth. Could these be rem- 1807 Vesta discovered by Olbers.
solar system, called the Asteroid Belt or Main Belt, probably contains mil- nants from the collision that created Vesta’s giant crater? 1884 Asteroid Ida discovered by Palisa.
lions of asteroids ranging widely in size from Ceres, which at 940 km in 1898 Asteroid Eros discovered by Witt.
diameter is about one-quarter the diameter of our Moon, to bodies that are NASA’s Galileo spacecraft was the first to observe an asteroid close-up, fly- 1916 Asteroid Gaspra discovered by Neujmin.
less than 1 km across. There are more than 20,000 numbered asteroids. ing by main-belt asteroids Gaspra and Ida in 1991 and 1993, respectively. 1991 Galileo captures first close-up images of asteroid
Gaspra and Ida proved to be irregularly shaped objects, rather like potatoes, (Gaspra).
As asteroids revolve around the Sun in elliptical orbits, giant Jupiter’s gravity riddled with craters and fractures, 19 km long and 52 km long respective- 1994 Galileo discovers first satellite (Dactyl) of an asteroid
and occasional close encounters with Mars or with another asteroid change ly. Galileo also discovered that Ida has its own moon, Dactyl, a tiny body in (Ida).
the asteroids’ orbits, knocking them out of the Main Belt and hurling them orbit around the asteroid that may be a fragment from past collisions. 1996 NEAR Shoemaker studies asteroid Mathilde.
into space across the orbits of the planets. For example, Mars’ moons Phobos 1997 Hubble Space Telescope studies Vesta.
and Deimos may be captured asteroids. Scientists believe that stray asteroids NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was the first ded- 2000–01 NEAR Shoemaker orbits Eros for one year and then
or fragments of asteroids have slammed into Earth in the past, playing a major icated scientific mission to an asteroid. The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lands.
role both in altering the geological history of our planet and in the evolution caught up with asteroid Eros in February 2000 and orbited the small body
of life on it. The extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago has been for a year, studying its surface, orbit, mass, composition, and magnetic
linked to a devastating impact near the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. field. In February 2001, mission controllers guided the spacecraft to the About the Images
first-ever landing on an asteroid.
Asteroids were first observed with telescopes in the early 1800s, and in 1802, (Upper left) Asteroid Eros is about 33 kilometers long (NEAR
the astronomer William Herschel first used the word “asteroid,” which Shoemaker).
means “starlike” in Greek, to describe these celestial bodies. Most of what Fast Facts (Upper right) Surface of Eros is covered in rocks of all shapes and
we have learned about asteroids in the past 200 years has been derived from (for some representative asteroids) sizes (NEAR Shoemaker).
telescopic observations. Ground-based telescopes are used to watch aster- Eros Gaspra Vesta Ceres Ida
(Right center) Color-coded map shows uphill (red) and downhill
oids that orbit close to Earth, not only to detect new ones or keep track of Mean Distance from Sun (AU) 1.458 2.209 2.36 2.768 2.86 (blue) areas on Eros (NEAR Shoemaker).
Orbital Period (yrs) 1.76 3.29 3.63 4.6 4.84
them, but also to watch for any asteroids that might collide with Earth in the Orbital Eccentricity 0.26 0.17 0.09 0.08 0.05
(Lower left) Mars’ two moons Phobos (left) and Deimos (right) may
future. Scientists define near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) as those whose orbits Orbital Inclination to Ecliptic 10.8° 4.1° 7.1° 10.6° 1.1° be captured asteroids. Asteroid Gaspra (top) is shown at same scale.
Rotational Period (hrs) 5.27 7.402 5.342 9.075 4.63
never take them farther than about 195 million kilometers from the Sun. Dimensions 35 x 13 km 18 x 11 x 9 km 530 km 933 km 58 x 23 km
(Lower center) Asteroid Ida and its moon Dactyl (Galileo).
diameter diameter (Lower right) Color-coded topography map of asteroid Vesta clearly
Asteroid Type S S V G S
In the last few decades, astronomers have used instruments called spec- shows a large crater with a central peak (blue is low, red is high)
troscopes to determine the chemical and mineral composition of asteroids An Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance between the Sun and (Hubble Space Telescope).
by analyzing the light reflected off their surfaces. Scientists also examine Earth, about 150,000,000 kilometers.
meteorites—the remains of comets or asteroids that can be found on References
1) NEAR Shoemaker mission to Eros: http://near.jhuapl.edu
Earth—for clues to the origin of these bodies. About three-quarters of Some Asteroid Types:
2) Near Earth Object Program: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/neo
asteroids are extremely dark and are similar to carbon-rich meteorites S—Stony irons and ordinary chondrites; C—Carbonaceous chon- 3) Planetary Photojournal: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov
called carbonaceous chondrites (C-type). About one-sixth of asteroids are drites; V—Like S, more pyroxene; G—Like C, brighter, very strong UV 4) National Space Science Data Center Asteroid information:
reddish, stony-iron bodies (S-type). absorption. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/asteroidpage.html

LG-2001-08-533-HQ