Asteroids

Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. They range in size from a fraction of an inch to hundreds of miles across and can be composed of metal or rock. Asteroids are remnants left over from the formation of our Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago, and most reside in a region between Mars and Jupiter known as the asteroid belt.

The first asteroid discovered was Ceres by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801; since then thousands more have been identified using ground-based telescopes as well as space based observatories such as NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST). While many asteroids remain undiscovered, it is estimated that there may be millions orbiting around the sun with sizes ranging up to 1000km or even larger than Earth itself!

Due to their proximity to Earth, asteroids have become a source for much scientific study – especially when they pass close enough for us observe them closely through telescopes or spacecraft missions like those sent out by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). There has also been speculation about potential mining operations on near-Earth asteroids due to their abundance mineral resources which could potentially provide valuable materials for use on future space exploration missions.

In addition, some comets actually originate from within this area – having either broken away from one large body during its rotation around the sun or being captured into our solar system after passing too close to another planet’s gravitational field before returning back towards outer space again – making them yet another interesting object scientists hope will help us understand more about how our universe works!