8 facts about asteroids





Asteroid - a relatively small celestial body of the solar system, orbiting around the sun. We offer you a selection of interesting facts about asteroids.

1. Ceres is the largest known asteroid with a diameter of about 950 km. This asteroid is so big that can be classified as a dwarf planet.

2. Asteroids are too small to have a spherical shape, which is formed from cosmic bodies under the action of gravity. Therefore, asteroids are generally ellipsoid, dumbbell-shaped or even take a strange form.

3. Asteroids rarely have whole structure. Most often they are more like a pile of rubble held together by its overall weight.

4. Most asteroids have a rocky composition, or a metal. Metallic asteroids are heavier and have more chances to pass the Earth's atmosphere without any obstacles and land. Stony asteroids usually burned in the atmosphere or, if they are very big, the surface closer to explode.

5. asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor that fell to Earth - a meteorite.

6. If you combine all the asteroids in the asteroid belt, they form cosmic body less than 1500 km in diameter, which is less than half the Moon.

7. Get the name of an asteroid can only after its orbit more or less accurately calculated. There are times when an asteroid gets the name of only a few decades after the discovery.

8. is a global danger of asteroids can be more than 10 km in diameter. All asteroids of this size are known to astronomers and are on orbits that can not lead to a collision with the Earth.

via factroom.ru