An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids).Asteroids are rocky, metallic, or icy bodies with no atmosphere, and are broadly classified into C-type (carbonaceous), M-type (), or S-type (silicaceous).

Feb 25, 2025 · Most asteroids can be found orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt. Asteroids range in size from Vesta – the largest at about 329 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter – to bodies that are less than 33 feet (10 meters) across. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of Earth's Moon.

Explore the 3D world of Asteroids, Comets and NEOs. Learn about past and future missions, tracking and predicting orbits, and close approaches to Earth.

Feb 13, 2025 · An asteroid that measures up to 300 feet across could smack into Earth in 2032, and while NASA says the chances of a collision are “extremely low,” the probability has been increasing since ...

Feb 12, 2025 · Asteroid 2024 YR4 is thought to be between 40 meters and 90 meters in diameter (130 feet to about 300 feet), which puts it between two of NASA's lower classifications: 50 meters (165 feet), which ...

Feb 18, 2025 · Introduction. Most asteroids can be found orbiting our Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt. Asteroids range in size from Vesta – the largest asteroid at about 329 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter – to bodies that are less than 33 feet (10 meters) across. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of Earth's Moon.

Feb 26, 2025 · asteroid, any of a host of small bodies, about 1,000 km (600 miles) or less in diameter, that orbit the Sun primarily between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in a nearly flat ring called the asteroid belt. It is because of their small size and large numbers relative to the major planets that asteroids are also called minor planets. The two designations have been used …

Mar 6, 2025 · Then, the Dawn spacecraft traveled to the asteroid belt in 2011. It orbited and studied the giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. In 2016, NASA launched the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to study an asteroid near Earth named Bennu. After studying Bennu for a few years, OSIRIS-REx scooped up a sample of dust and rocks from the asteroid’s ...

Mar 31, 2014 · Asteroid: A relatively small, inactive, rocky body orbiting the Sun. Comet: A relatively small, at times active, object whose ices can vaporize in sunlight forming an atmosphere (coma) of dust and gas and, sometimes, a tail of dust and/or gas. Meteoroid: A small particle from a comet or asteroid orbiting the Sun.

Asteroid Classifications. Main Asteroid Belt: The majority of known asteroids orbit within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, generally with not very elongated orbits. The belt is estimated to contain between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids larger than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter, and millions of smaller ones. Early in the ...