BookRags.com Literature Guides Literature
Guides
Criticism & Essays Criticism &
Essays
Questions & Answers Questions &
Answers
Lesson Plans Lesson
Plans
My Bibliography Periodic Table U.S. Presidents Shakespeare Sonnet Shake-Up
Research Anything:        
History | Encyclopedias | Films | News | Create a Bibliography | More... Login | Register | Help


Search "Asteroid"

Navigation

Asteroid

Print-Friendly  Order the PDF version  Order the RTF version
About 1 pages (134 words)
Asteroid Summary

Any of the many rocky small bodies that orbit the Sun mainly in a flat ring, the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is thought that the gravitational influence of what became Jupiter kept the asteroids from aggregating into a single planet while the solar system was forming. Also called minor planets, asteroids are smaller than any of the solar system's major planets; only about 30 are more than 125 mi (200 km) across.

Ceres is the largest known asteroid. Millions of boulder-sized asteroidal fragments are thought to exist in the solar system. Asteroids or their fragments regularly strike Earth, plunging through the atmosphere as meteors to reach its surface (&see; meteorite). Asteroids appear to be composed of carbonaceous, stony, and metallic (mainly iron) materials. &Seealso; Earth-crossing asteroid; Trojan asteroids.

This is the complete article, containing 134 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).

View More Summaries on Asteroid
More Information
  • View Asteroid Study Pack
  • Search Results for "Asteroid"
  • Add This to Your Bibliography
  • More Products on This Subject
    Asteroid
    any of a host of rocky small bodies, about 1,000 km (600 miles) or less in diameter, that orbit the... more

    Asteroids
    Asteroids are small bodies in space—the numerous leftover planetesimals from which the plane... more


     
    Copyrights
    Asteroid from Encyclopedia Brittanica. ©2009 Encyclopedia Brittanica. All rights reserved.

    Join BookRagslearn moreJoin BookRags




    About BookRags | Customer Service | Report an Error | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy