Asteroids are often called minor planets.They are lumps of rocks orbiting the Sun , mostly in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Ceres was once considered the largest asteroid but later it has been reclassified as a dwarf planet . It is 936 km in diameter and was found on New Year's Day ,1801. Since then thousands of asteroids have been found.Twelve of them are more than 250 km wide and 26 are larger than 200 km in diameter. As telescopes have improved , more and more small asteroids have been detected. There are probably about 100,000 asteroids larger than 1 km in diameter.
Vesta, the fourth asteroid to be found (in 1807), is the only one bright enough to be seen without a telescope.
Toutatis was discovered in 1989. It is named after the Celtic god Toutatis , whose name is used as an oath by the comic strip character Asterix the Gaul. Toutatis measures 4.6 by 2.4 by 1.9 km. It passes earth every four years and is one of the largest space objects to come so close to us.
Sources : Whitaker's world of facts
Ceres was once considered the largest asteroid but later it has been reclassified as a dwarf planet . It is 936 km in diameter and was found on New Year's Day ,1801. Since then thousands of asteroids have been found.Twelve of them are more than 250 km wide and 26 are larger than 200 km in diameter. As telescopes have improved , more and more small asteroids have been detected. There are probably about 100,000 asteroids larger than 1 km in diameter.
Vesta, the fourth asteroid to be found (in 1807), is the only one bright enough to be seen without a telescope.
Toutatis was discovered in 1989. It is named after the Celtic god Toutatis , whose name is used as an oath by the comic strip character Asterix the Gaul. Toutatis measures 4.6 by 2.4 by 1.9 km. It passes earth every four years and is one of the largest space objects to come so close to us.
Sources : Whitaker's world of facts
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