|
Internet Search Results
In Depth | Asteroids – NASA Solar System Exploration
Stray asteroids and asteroid fragments have slammed into Earth and the other planets in the past, playing a major role in altering the geological history of the planets and in the evolution of life on Earth.
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors - NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system’s small bodies – asteroids, comets, and meteors – pack big surprises. These chunks of rock, ice, and metal are leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud - NASA Solar System Exploration
The Kuiper Belt should not be confused with the Oort Cloud, which is a thousand times more distant. In 1950, astronomer Jan Oort proposed that certain comets come from a vast, extremely distant spherical shell of icy bodies surrounding the solar system. This giant swarm of objects, now named the Oort Cloud, occupies space at a distance between 5,000 and 100,000 astronomical units. No objects ...
In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.
In Depth | Kuiper Belt – NASA Solar System Exploration
Researchers have found that some near-Earth asteroids are actually burned-out comets, and most of them would have started out in the Kuiper Belt. Many comets crash into the Sun or the planets.
Make Your Own Awesome Asteroid - NASA Solar System Exploration
Scientists predicted the existence of rubble pile asteroids that barely hold together in space. They are thought to be old fragments of asteroids that gently collided with each other to make a larger asteroid (process is called accretion).
Planet Compare – NASA Solar System Exploration
NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system.
Psyche Raw Image: Imager A - NASA Solar System Exploration
BY DESTINATION Earth (1) Mars (2) Jupiter (95) Saturn (83) Uranus (27) Neptune (14) Pluto (5) Asteroids, Comets & Meteors About Asteroids, Comets & Meteors BY TYPE Meteors & Meteorites Asteroids Comets More
In Depth | Phobos – NASA Solar System Exploration
Phobos and Deimos appear to be composed of C-type rock, similar to blackish carbonaceous chondrite asteroids. Observations by Mars Global Surveyor indicate that the surface of this small body has been pounded into powder by eons of meteoroid impacts, some of which started landslides that left dark trails marking the steep slopes of giant craters.
The Sun By the Numbers – NASA Solar System Exploration
The Sun is the star at the heart of our solar system. Its gravity holds the solar system together, keeping everything – from the biggest planets to the smallest bits of debris – in its orbit.
|