does any body know anything about asteroids?

Question

what they are made of
any web sites

Answer 1

THE FIRST FEW DISCOVERIES

The term (which means "star-like") was coined by Sir William Herschel, who had discovered Uranus in 1781. when 1 Ceres (discovered 1801) and 2 Pallas (discovered 1802) were immediately declared to be planets on discovery, and then realised to be rather disappointingly small (as was the case with Pluto in 1930).

Herschel was reluctant to see them classified as planets alongside Uranus, However as discoveries dried up after the next two (3 Juno in 1804 and 4 Vesta in 1807) till 1845 when 5 Astraea was found, nobody thought it was much of an issue and Herschel had meanwhile died. There was no IAU to rule on such issues, at this time, it was not founded till 1919. They had to work by concensus.

STATUS

Nothing was done about it, until in the 1850s there were by then 15 asteroids and therefore 23 planets (Neptune was found in 1846) and it was starting to get silly, and so they were all unceremoniously kicked out of the planetary club and regarded as asteroids (minor planets) thereafter. For fear of how many more they would have to let in if they remained as planets. Which of course is exactly what has just happened to 134340 Pluto.

NUMBERS

A wise decision as by 1868 there 107 asteroids known and we now know of 342,536 (as of mid-September 2006), And it is estimated there may be between 1.1 and 1,9 million asteroids of 1 kilometre or greater size, All within the Asteroid Belt between Mars (1.5 AU from the Sun) and Jupiter (5 AU from the Sun).

ORIGINS

It is thought that asteroids are remnants of the protoplanetary disc, and in this region the incorporation of protoplanetary remnants into forming planets was prevented by large gravitational perturbations induced by Jupiter during the formative period of the solar system.

ORIGINS OF THE MATERIAL IN ASTEROIDS

The fact that our protoplanetary disk contained significant amounts of metals and other elements of higher atomic number is because the Sun (4.5 billion years old) is a Population I star that has only existed for the latter one-third of the universe's history (the universe is 13.7 billion years old) and it has benefitted from inheriting material from nearby supernova remnants of older, Population II and III stars. Heavier elements are only created in the process of supernovas exploding,

DIVERSITY

Some asteroids have moons (87 Sylvia has two. called Romulus and Remus). 243 Ida and its moon Dactyl, was the first such satellite of an asteroid to be discovered,

Others are found in pairs known as binary systems. An example of a double asteroid is 90 Antiope, where two roughly equal-sized components orbit the common centre of gravity. 617 Patroclus and its same-sized companion Menoetius is the only known binary system in the Trojan population at the Jupiter L4 and L5 Lagrange points. (see first link)

ASTEROID CLASSIFICATION

Asteroids are commonly classified into groups based on the characteristics of their orbits and on the details of the spectrum of sunlight they reflect and their composition, therefore.

CLASSIFICATION BY COMPOSITION

In 1975, an asteroid taxonomic system (akin to Linnaeus' taxonomy system in botany) based on colour, albedo, and spectral shape was developed by Clark R. Chapman, David Morrison, and Ben Zellner. These properties correspond to the composition of the asteroid's surface material. (the interior is unknown). They classified three types of asteroids:

C-type asteroids - carbonaceous, 75% of known asteroids
S-type asteroids - silicaceous, 17% of known asteroids
M-type asteroids - metallic, most of the remaining asteroids

It has got more complicated since then, and is in a state of flux (see second link). Carbon and silicon are the 6th and 7th most abundant elements in the universe.

EIGHT LARGEST ASTEROIDS

Diameters or dimensions in kilometres
1 Ceres 975×909
4 Vesta 578×560×458
2 Pallas 570×525×500
10 Hygiea 500×385×350
511 Davida 326
704 Interamnia 317
52 Europa 360×315×240
624 Hektor 370×195

Answer 2

Asteroids are basically just rocks in space. They can range in size from grains of sand to rocks the size of mountains, and even larger. There are two basic types, stony and metallic. And while they do indeed contain some very valuable minerals, they are not 'made of' platinum or gold. Most of them 'live' between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, although there are quite a few 'earth crossing' asteroids that scientists keep a special eye on. Use the Search Engine for more detailed looks at asteroids. Try NASA, too.

Answer 3

Asteroids are lumped into three main groups, mostly by how they look but with the implication of what they're made of. The simple fact of the matter is that we can't be SURE of what most of the asteroids are made of... our best clues are based on light spectra showing the stuff that's on their surface and by examining various asteroids that fall to Earth. Having said that, there are three major groups:

C-type (carbonaceous) asteroids seem to be covered mostly with carbon. About 75% of all known asteroids are of this type. They are dark to look at, and contain comparatively high amounts of water and organic compounds. Otherwise, they seem to be chemically very similar to the non-gaseous parts of the sun, and since many of the things they're made of would boil away if they'd ever been heated up, it lends support to the idea that they're just left-over pre-solar matter (which would also explain why there's so many of them!).

S-type (silicaceous) asteroids get their name from being very stone-like. They have lots of iron, magnesium, and silicon compounds in them. Many such asteroids seem to be accumulations of small molten droplets, and are rich in the minerals olivine and pyroxene. Some consider these materials to be some of the first formed in our solar system. They are predominantly found in the asteroid belt, though some are scattered elsewhere. They make up about 17% of all known asteroids.

Most of the rest of the asteroids are M-type (metallic). As the name suggests, these seem to be large metal chunks - almost pure alloys of nickel and iron. Not ALL M-type asteroids are like this, though... a lot of them just look like them through a telescope, and other evidence has shown that they must be made up of very different stuff, though we seldom know exactly what that is (see above).

All in all, there is actually a fairly large variety of asteroids, in appearance, constitution, and location. I've put lots of links below if you want more information! Good luck!

Answer 4

Here's a cool site with a lot of info on asteroids! Have fun!!!

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

Answer 5

They are made up mainly of rock and metals such as iron and nickel. Most of them orbit the sun in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Hope thats enough info for you.

Answer 6

Some asteroids contain very valuable metal ores like platinum and gold. There's over 10,000 of them identified so far.

Asteroids are also classified by composition and albedo, most being one of three types. The majority (C-type) are similar to carbon-chrondite meteorites with approximately the same composition as the sun (excluding hydrogen) and are relatively dark. Those with a composition of nickel iron mixed with silicates of iron and magnesium (S-type) are relatively bright. The M-type are composed of nickel iron and are bright.

Answer 7

A good and reasonable question.

So, why do idiots come on and make stupid infantile answers.

Also, it is getting painfully obvious from some of the inane questions on this forum that kids playing computer games are becoming more and more ignorant of the world.

If you don't know the answer, or haven't got anything useful to say, just go find a chat group for your garbage.

Anyway, this is a good question, and some good answers, so I don't need to add my bit.

Answer 8

i'm learning about asteroids and space stuff in school but if you want any info, just email me

Answer 9

I scored 300000 in asteroids the arcade version. Cool game.

Answer 10

well..i have to say...asteroids was a great god damn game...thats about the extent of my knowledge on the subject :)>