What are Asteroids?
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Asteroids are chunks of rock that failed to stick together to make a planet.
Most of them circle the Sun between Mars and Jupiter where there would be room for another planet.
There are millions of asteroids, some the size of a car, and others as big as mountains.
Asteroids travel in a ring around the Sun. Most of them are found in the main asteroid belt—a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Asteroids are left over from the creation of our solar system. Our solar system began around 4.6 billion years ago when a big cloud of gas and dust collapsed. When this happened, most of the material fell to the center of the cloud and formed the sun.
Some of the condensing dust in the cloud became planets. The objects in the asteroid belt never had the chance to be incorporated into planets. They are leftovers from that time long ago when planets formed.
No way! Because asteroids formed in different locations at different distances from the sun, no two asteroids are alike. Here are a few ways that they differ:
