Belt+Asteroid

= = =__Asteroid Belt__=

By: Merry Kris Saldo



 * ====The region between the inner planets and outer planets====
 * ====It can be thought as what was 'left over' after the formation of the Sun and all planets====
 * ====OR the remnants of material that never formed a planet====
 * ====It is orbiting the Sun between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter====
 * ====Also called "Minor Planets"====

=__Discovery__=

[[image:mrconnorsses4ua/170px-Giuseppe_Piazzi.jpg width="252" height="317" align="right" caption="Giuseppe, discoveredr of Ceres"]]

 * ====In 1801, Italia priest and astronomer Giuseppe Piazze, discovered the first and largest asteroid, Ceres, while he was making a star map.====
 * ====He saw Ceres orbiting between Mars and Jupiter====
 * ====Ceres has about a quarter of all the mass of all the thousands of asteroids in or close to the main asteroid belt====

__Naming__

 * ====Asteroid's names usually came from mythical heroes and gods like the major planets.====
 * ====Ceres was the first to be discovered and named after the Roman goddess of growing plants and of motherly love====
 * ====Pallas was the second to be discovered and named after one of the Greek gods of wisdom====
 * ====Some asteroids were named after countries, numbers, and as of todays, asteroids are named after or by the people who discover them .====
 * ====Overall, as the number of known asteroids increased, the supply of names from other sources were used.====

__Exploration__

 * NASA's Galileo was the first spacecraft to take a close-up images of asteroids in 1991. Also discovered the first moon to orbit an asteroid later in 1994

media type="youtube" key="bHrBtAUe-Ns" height="283" width="477" align="center"
 * Watch the spacecraft Dawn on its way to the asteroid belt....**

=__Size__=
 * ====Asteroids can reach as large as Ceres which has about 583 miles (940 kilometers) across====
 * ====Or can be as small as 20 feet (6 meters) across. This asteroids is named 1991 BA which considered to be one of te smallest asteroids in 1991.====
 * ====Nearly all asteroids are irregularly shaped, few are spherical, often pitted or cratered====
 * ====Vesta (an asteroid) has a giant crater of 460 km (285 miles) in diameter====

=__Composition__=


 * ====The composition of asteroids can be studied by looking at the spectra of light they reflect (such as on rocks, minerals, ices, and metals)====
 * ===//Three broad categories://===
 * 1) =====**Carbonaceous** - which contains carbon compounds and has about 75% of all asteroids reflect only a few percent of the sunlight hitting them because of their very black color=====
 * 2) =====**Metallic** - consists of an iron-nickel-stone mixture=====
 * 3) =====**Stony** - made of material like rocks (on the terrestrial planets=====



=__Resources__=
 * ====About 3 out of 4 or mostly all asteroids are made of carbon-based rock.====
 * ====Others are made of the metals iron and nickel====
 * ====Half of these are pure iron and nickel (mixed with silica compounds)====
 * ====Larger metal asteroids has more iron than what has been mined in the history of human kind.====

=__What we don't know? (Facts)__=
 * ====Some asteroids in the belt are over 100 km wide====
 * ====Since not all asteroids are found in the asteroid belt, some orbit closer to the Sun.====
 * ====Asteroids closes to the Earth are called Near-Earth asteroids which sometimes they strike the planet and burning in the atmosphere and becomes a meteor. If they are large, they might hit the surface of the earth and become meteorites.====
 * ====There are lots of asteroids in the belt, they are spread across a large distance so it is very unlikely (about one in a billion chance) that a spacecraft would run into an asteroid====
 * ====Despite the low density of asteroids, collisions between asteroids have been known to occur and an asteroid family is formed when asteroids collide====
 * ====The total weight of all the asteroids in the asteroid belt is mostly about 1/35th of our moon====

=__Works Cited:__=
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