An asteroid is a small rocky object that orbits the Sun. They're like space rocks that vary in size from tiny pebbles to larger bodies several hundred kilometers wide. They are remnants from the formation of our solar system billions of years ago and can be found mostly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but some come closer to Earth.
Some asteroids contain minerals like diamonds! Imagine a giant space rock filled with bling. A few asteroids contain valuable metals like gold and platinum. It's like a space pirate's dream come true!
Earth has near-miss parties with asteroids more often than you think. Luckily, we've got a good defense game plan.
More than 150 asteroids have moons, and some even have two.
A large asteroid impact contributed significantly to the extinction of the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago. This event is known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. After the collision the entire planet plunged into darkness for a period of 650-700 days, killing upto 75% of living things.
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