Have you ever wondered where most asteroids come from of what they are made from? If you have these ten facts about asteroids should answer most the questions you have about them as well as giving you some useless facts to tell friends and family…
1 – Asteroids are the remnants left over after the formation of the solar system.
2 – We’ve only had 2 probes ever to orbit & land on an asteroid – Eros, about the size of Manhatten Island & Japan’s Hayabusa2.
3 – Most asteroids lie in a vast ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This main belt holds more than 200 asteroids larger than 60 miles (100 kilometres) in diameter.
4 – Scientists estimate the asteroid belt also contains more than 750,000 asteroids larger than three-fifths of a mile (1 kilometre) in diameter and millions of smaller ones.
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5 – The average temperature of the surface of a typical asteroid is minus 100 degrees F (minus 73 degrees C).
6 – Ever since Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago, asteroids and comets have routinely slammed into the planet. The most dangerous asteroids are extremely rare, according to NASA.
7 – An asteroid capable of global disaster would have to be more than a quarter-mile wide. Researchers have estimated that such an impact would raise enough dust into the atmosphere to effectively create a “nuclear winter,” severely disrupting agriculture around the world. Asteroids that large strike Earth only once every 1,000 centuries on average, NASA officials say.
8 – Ceres, minor-planet designation 1 Ceres, is the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System, and the largest asteroid ever recorded within our own solar system.
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9 – Both of Mars’ moons and at least 10 of Jupiter’s are probably captured asteroids.
10 – If Jupiter were further out in its orbit (or didn’t exist at all), the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter probably would’ve formed a Mercury-sized planet.
