There is a telescope in space that circles around the Earth called the Hubble Space Telescope.

What is an Asteroid?

Asteroids are giant boulders or rocks that orbit the sun just as planets do. They are sometimes called minor planets. Asteroids are left over materials from the formation of the Solar System. Asteroids were first observed with telescopes in the early 1800s. Asteroids range in size from several hundred miles to several hundred feet. Scientists believe that an asteroid hit the Earth about 65 million years ago which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Most asteroids are located in the asteroid belt, a region located between the planets Mars and Jupiter. In the asteroid belt there are twenty-six asteroids larger than 124 miles in diameter, traveling along with hundreds of thousands of smaller asteroids. The largest known asteroid, Ceres, was discovered in 1801. In 1802, the astronomer William Herschel first used the word asteroid, which means "star-like" in Greek.

The Ten Largest Asteroids:

Return to the Space

Related Information & News on Asteroids

Asteroid Fact Sheet

Introduction to Asteroids

What is the chance of an asteroid hitting Earth and how do astronomers calculate it? - June 7, 2005 - Although the odds of any one particular asteroid ever impacting Earth are quite low, it is still likely that one day our planet will be hit by another asteroid.

Astronaut Wants Asteroid Mission  May 25, 2005 - A former Apollo astronaut is calling on Congress to authorize a space mission to monitor an asteroid that has a narrow chance of hitting Earth in 2035 or 2036. Astronaut Russell Schweickart, who piloted the lunar module during the 1969 Apollo 9 mission, unveiled his proposal Friday at the International Space Development Conference in Arlington, Virginia

Asteroid Belt Discovered Around Our Sun's "Twin" - NASA's orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope has found evidence of a massive asteroid belt around a "twin" of our own sun.

How Collisions Shaped an Asteroid

See Video of Huge Asteroid Flying Past Earth Today

Voyage to the asteroid belt

Why are asteroids hard to see?

Near Earth Asteroid Tracking

National Geographics Asteroid Deadly Impact Game - Play this online game AND learn about asteroids along the way.

Doomsday Asteroid - From Nova Online

Did you know?

The first woman that traveled into space was Valentina Tereshkova, a soviet cosmonaut.

A space shuttle takes astronauts to and from the Space Station.

A space probe is a machine that explores space and sends information back to the Earth.

The sun is at the center of the solar system.