Asteroids & Minor Planets - Asteroids Facts

The first asteroid to be discovered, Ceres is by far the largest and most massive body in the main asteroid belt, totalling about a third of the total mass of the entire belt. It was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi, a monk in Sicily and the founding director of the Palermo Astronomical Observatory. Named after the Roman goddess of the harvest, of growing plants, and motherly love, Ceres is the smallest of the dwarf planets, a new category of astronomical bodies created by the IAU in 2006.

Known by astronomers as 1 Ceres, it was the very first minor planet discovered. As big across as Texas, Ceres' nearly spherical body has a differentiated interior - meaning that, like Earth, it has denser material at the core and lighter minerals near the surface. Astronomers believe that water ice may be buried under Ceres' crust because its density is less than that of the Earth's crust, and be…

The Texas-sized asteroid Ceres, about 930 kilometers (580 miles) across, was the first asteroid ever detected. Ceres was identified in 1801 by astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, a monk in Sicily and the founding director of the Palermo Astronomical Observatory. First called a planet, Ceres was later demoted to an asteroid.

Asteroids are rocky fragments left over from formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. Most asteroids can be found orbiting the Sun in a belt between Mars & Jupiter called the Asteroid Belt. It probably contains millions of asteroids. Learn more facts about asteroids and find pictures of asteroids.

Prior to 2006 every object in orbit around our Sun was either a Planet, a Minor Planet or a Comet. When the issue of Pluto's planet-hood was raised a new term, Dwarf Planet, was introduced. However, the term Minor Planet is still used today and classifies a unique set of objects in our Solar System.

It seems like a monthly occurrence that the media is touting some new threat to the very survival of mankind. Whether it is a new plague, a solar flare or an approaching asteroid, there is always cause for concern. But should we really be worried about asteroids? What are these objects and where do they come from?

There are regular news reports of asteroids that are passing near Earth; some may even pose a threat to life on the surface. Most of these objects come from a region of space between Mars and Jupiter known as the asteroid belt.

Asteroids, or minor planets as they are sometimes called, are small solid objects that orbit our Sun. Most of these objects lie in the asteroid belt but some, instead share their orbit with another, larger solar system object. These are known as trojan asteroids.

In discussion of objects in the solar system the term "Lagrange Point" is sometimes used, usually when referring to asteroids or manmade satellites. What does this tell us about the object? And how do we know that these points exist?