Asteroids

Murphy McGraw

What they are

• Rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered planets

• No atmospheres • Diverse group of small

celestial bodies in the solar system

• Known as "minor planets" • Made of rock and metal

History

• 65 million years ago• 1801 – Ceres• June 30, 1908• Theories on

chemicals

Why study them?

• Where are they? Could they strike earth (again?) • Mineral Resources• Formation of the Solar System and our own

Earth.

How to study them

• Telescopes• Spectroscopes• Rockets• Spacecrafts• Six space missions• Laboratory analysis of

meteorites

Types

• C-type• S-type • M-type• Rare types

How they are classified

• Classified by Aledo• Composition derived

from spectral features in their reflected sunlight

• Inferred similarities to known meteorite types

Where they are located

• Asteroid Belt Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter

• Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) – Amors – Apollos– Atens

• Trojans

Sizes and Shapes

• All different shapes and sizes

• Nearly spherical (Ceres)

• Very irregular (Eros, most others)

• Size ranging- very small (rocks) very large (minor planets)

Bibliography / Questions?

• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/text/asteroids.txt

• http://www.nineplanets.org/asteroids.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid

• http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/DawnCommunity/flashbacks/fb_12.pdf

• http://www.noao.edu/education/asteroids/