- In Depth | Asteroids – NASA Solar System Exploration
Most asteroids are irregularly shaped, though a few are nearly spherical, and they are often pitted or cratered As they revolve around the Sun in elliptical orbits, the asteroids also rotate, sometimes quite erratically, tumbling as they go
- Asteroids, Comets Meteors - NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system’s small bodies – asteroids, comets, and meteors – pack big surprises These chunks of rock, ice, and metal are leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4 6 billion years ago
- In Depth | Oumuamua – NASA Solar System Exploration
The first known interstellar object to visit our solar system, 1I 2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, was discovered Oct 19, 2017 by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope, funded by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations (NEOO) Program, which finds and tracks asteroids and comets in Earth’s neighborhood
- In Depth | Perseids – NASA Solar System Exploration
Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids When comets come around the Sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them Every year Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky The Comet
- Mars By the Numbers - NASA Solar System Exploration
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest It’s the only planet we know of inhabited entirely by robots
- In Depth | Kuiper Belt – NASA Solar System Exploration
Researchers have found that some near-Earth asteroids are actually burned-out comets, and most of them would have started out in the Kuiper Belt Many comets crash into the Sun or the planets
- RPS 3D Viewer - NASA Solar System Exploration
Asteroids, Comets Meteors About Asteroids, Comets Meteors BY TYPE Meteors Meteorites Asteroids Comets
- In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids
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