Related topics: earth , solar system , comet , meteorite



Asteroid

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Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, especially in the inner Solar System; they are smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids. The term "asteroid" has historically been applied primarily to bodies in the inner Solar System since the outer Solar System was poorly known when it came into common usage. The distinction between asteroids and comets is made on visual appearance: Comets show a perceptible coma while asteroids do not.

For more information about Asteroid, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with asteroid

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Close-up photos of dying star show our sun's fate

Close-up photos of dying star show our sun's fate (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (21) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet ...


US launches space-mapping satellite WISE

WISE satellite blasts off on space-map mission

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 4

NASA launched Monday a new breed of satellite called WISE on a mission to orbit Earth and map the skies to find elusive cosmic objects, including potentially dangerous asteroids.


Superior Super Earths

Superior Super Earths

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (55) | comments 15

Super Earths are named for their size, but these planets - which range from about 2 to 10 Earth masses - could be superior to the Earth when it comes to sustaining life. They could also provide an answer to ...


WISE Launch Scheduled for Dec. 11

WISE Launch Scheduled for Dec. 11

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is scheduled for Dec. 11.





Search results for asteroid


Best (Meteor) Shower of 2009 - No Towel Required

Best (Meteor) Shower of 2009 - No Towel Required

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Bundle up and get ready to watch a fiery lightshow stirred up by dead comets in Earth's upper atmosphere during the cold of winter in the dead of night. The annual Geminid meteor shower is ...


Geminid meteor shower to peak on 14th December 2009

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The annual Geminid meteor shower is predicted to peak at 0510 GMT on 14th December. Meteors (or ‘shooting stars’) are the result of small particles entering the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, heating up ...


The 2009 Geminid Meteor Shower

The 2009 Geminid Meteor Shower (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Make hot cocoa. Bundle up. Tell your friends. The best meteor shower of 2009 is about to fall over North America on a long, cold December night.


A scale model of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo

Virgin Galactic readies maiden suborbital flight

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (23) | comments 10

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson will unveil a craft on Monday that could soon carry tourists on an out-of-this-world trip into space -- for a mere 200,000 dollars. (Update: Virgin Galactic unveils commercial spaceship) ...


Kansas scientists probe mysterious possible comet strikes on Earth

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (16) | comments 8

It's the stuff of a Hollywood disaster epic: A comet plunges from outer space into the Earth's atmosphere, splitting the sky with a devastating shock wave that flattens forests and shakes the countryside.


'Extreme' genes shed light on origins of photosynthesis

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- While most school children understand that green plants photosynthesize, absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, few people consider the profound global-scale effects that photosynthesis has had on Earth. ...


Studying how black holes grow

Studying how black holes grow

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Black holes are some of the most exotic objects in the universe. They are the final evolutionary stage of giant stars much larger than the sun. When these stars explode, their cores collapse down to the size ...


A Superbright Supernova That’s the First of Its Kind

A Superbright Supernova That’s the First of Its Kind

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (24) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- An extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily long-lasting supernova named SN 2007bi, snagged in a search by a robotic telescope, turns out to be the first example of the kind of stars that first ...



List of search results for asteroid