All
that you
wish to know
about asteroids on this
world asteroid day
BY - srishti verma
world Asteroid Day
is celebrated on
30th June
Every year
it marks the date of
Earth’s largest asteroid impact
in recorded history -
"the Siberia Tunguska event"
the day
aims to
inspire, engage and educate
the public about
asteroid opportunities
and
risks
The
first asteroid
to be discovered was
Ceres,
Which now is a
dwarf planet
because of its
huge size
William Herschel:
British astronomer
first coined
the term “asteroid” in
1802
The word
'asteroid'
is said to have
roots in Greek,
which means
“star-like”
Asteroids
are considered to be
building blocks
of
planets
but are
never a planet
in themselves
Near-Earth Objects: (NEOs)
are the
asteroids that
wander close to Earth.
NEOs
can be particularly
dangerous
if they
hit
the
surface of Earth!
meteoroid
is a piece of an
asteroid.
it
falls
into the Earth’s
atmosphere
on average
once every year.
meteoroid burns up
in the atmosphere before reaching the
surface of the Earth
still creating a
fireball effect
Asteroids
are considered to be the
leftovers
of the early
Solar System,
making them around
4.6 billion years old
Asteroids
have
moons!
Smaller bodies
orbit
asteroids like
asteroids orbit planets.
first
such moon was
Dactyl,
which was found in
1993
to be orbiting a larger
asteroid named Ida
Asteroids also
have
rings,
which are nothing but
circles of dust particles
circling the asteroid
Asteroids'
average
surface temperature
is
-70 degrees Celsius
Asteroids
are rich sources of
carbon, silica, and metals
All asteroids
orbit the Sun
in the same
direction
as the
planets
The
largest asteroid
is
Vesta
, its
area
is about
twice the area
of the
state of California
Vesta
is the
brightest asteroid in the sky.
so, it can be sometimes
seen from Earth
with
naked eyes