Getting To Know The Facts About Asteroids

What Is An Asteroid?

Answering the question what is an asteroid? These are the small rocky objects, also known as minor planets that revolve around the sun. Although the asteroids revolve around the sun just like planets do, these are much smaller in size compared to the planets in the solar system. 

Most of the asteroids can be found in the main asteroid belt. By the main asteroid belt, it is the region falling between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Apart from the main asteroid belt, the asteroids also live in other places in space. For instance, scientists have discovered some asteroids hanging out in the orbital paths of the planets. This implies that both the planets and asteroids follow the same path around the Sun in the solar system. 

What Are The Types Of An asteroid?

Now that you know what is an Asteroid is, It’s time for you to know that asteroids are classified into two main categories. Here mentioned are different types of asteroids:

Asteroids Classified Based On Their Chemical Composition:

C-Type Asteroids: 

C-type asteroids, also known as Carbonaceous asteroids, are the most common asteroids that can be found in the solar system. These form around 75% of all known asteroids in the solar system, specifically at the edge of the main asteroid belt. As the name suggests, carbonaceous asteroids are rich in carbon. These asteroids also contain other elements like silicates and metals making them the darkest celestial objects in the color. One more reason C-type asteroids appear darker is that they are not capable of reflecting the sunlight. When it comes to the most ancient celestial objects in the solar system, carbonaceous asteroids are among them.

S-Type Asteroids:

Followed by C-type asteroids, S-type asteroids are the second-most common asteroids to be discovered in the solar system. These are composed of silicate and iron-nickel and are commonly found on the inner edge of the main asteroid belt. When evaluated in terms of percentage, S-type asteroids form 17% of asteroids in the solar system. Some of the bigger asteroids discovered by scientists are part of the S-type asteroids. It has been researched that most of the S-type asteroids are bright because of their albedo. 7 Iris is one of the brightest S-type asteroids that has been discovered by researchers. S-type asteroids are further classified into more than five categories like A-type, R-type, L-type, K-type, and so on.

M-Type Asteroids:

The third-most common type asteroid group, M-Type Asteroids is found in the middle of the main asteroid belt. These are the least studied asteroids and thus, scientists don’t know their exact composition. Almost every asteroid in this particular group is composed of nickel-iron (pure or mixed) along with the small proportions of the stone. Having albedo falling between the range of 0.1 and 0.2, the M-Type Asteroids are moderately bright. With a diameter of 120 miles or 200 km, the most massive asteroid in the class M-Type Asteroids is the 16 Psyche.

Asteroids classified based on their location in the solar system:

The Main Asteroid Belt:

When it comes to the main asteroid belt, it resides between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The reason why this belt was formed in the first place is the massive gravitational force of the planet Jupiter. It is the massive gravitational force of this planet due to which rocks crashed with each other rather than fusing to form a planet. It is the result of those violent collisions that thousands of tiny and irregular-shaped particles left in their wake. It is estimated that approximately 99.9% of the original mass of the belt was ejected out of the belt, and only 0.1% of the belt’s mass was left behind in the solar system. 

Trojan Asteroids:

It is the Trojan Asteroids that share the orbits of planets around the sun in the solar system. These form the larger group of asteroids and the most famous Trojans are the Jupiter Trojans. These are usually the small celestial bodies and share their orbits with the larger celestial bodies found in the solar system like planets or the moon. According to scientists, around a million Trojan asteroids share their orbits with the orbit of Jupiter. It is the gravitational perturbations on which the stability of the relationship of the Trojan asteroids with the larger celestial bodies in the solar system depends. In case the gravitational perturbations are present much more often and larger in volume then the orbit of these asteroids can be affected.

Near-Earth Asteroids:

Near-Earth Asteroids are the smaller solar system bodies having their orbits very close to the planet earth. When these asteroids are at the perihelion point, they are less than 1.3 AU. Almost 95% of the Near-Earth Asteroids have already been discovered by researchers. These asteroids were formed because of the collisions and contribute a lot to maintaining the shape and formation of the earth. Some large asteroids have caused drastic events like tsunamis, huge craters, etc by penetrating the atmosphere of the earth. Spacecraft have already visited more than ten Near-Earth Asteroids.

Conclusion

Asteroids were formed at the same time when the other bodies were formed in the solar system. Scientists can know numerous facts about the planets and the sun by researching these rocky objects. An aspirant preparing for the NDA exam should consider studying asteroids as an important topic of General science. If you want to know what is an asteroid? Just go through this article.