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asteroid (minor planet, planetoid)
subject			fact

asteroid	is a part of our solar system
	has asteroid number
	has synonym minor planet
	has synonym planetoid
	has definition A small rocky body that orbits a star. In the solar system, most asteroids lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The largest asteroid is Ceres, about 900 kilometers in diameter.
	has definition A small planet-like body of the solar system, <e> ≃ 0.15, <i> ≃ 9°.7 . More than 1800 have been catalogued, and probably millions of smaller ones exist, but their total mass would probably be less than 3 percent that of the Moon. Their densities are poorly known (about 2.6 g cm-3), but they suggest a composition similar to carbonaceous chondrite. The bright asteroids are presumably original condensations and those fainter than about 14-15 mag are collision fragments. Asteroids and short-period comets have some orbital similarities. Also called minor planet
	has definition Also called planetoids or minor planets, the asteroids are tiny planets most of which orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The largest - and the first discovered - is Ceres, with a diameter of 1,003 km. It is estimated that there may altogether be no fewer than 40000. A few have very elliptical orbits and cross the orbits of several other (major) planets. One or two even have their own satellites (moons).
	is a kind of celestial body
celestial body	has spectra
physical object	has location or center of gravity
	has angular momentum
	has mass
	has velocity
	has momentum
	has temperature
	has volume
	has extent
	has material

Kinds of asteroid :

• Bamberga (13 facts) - Asteroid with the darkest known surfaces in the solar system, the only minor planet known to have such a low albedo.
• Ceres (16 facts) - Largest asteroid, and the first to be discovered.
• Earth-crossing asteroid (3 kinds, 27 facts)
• Eros (15 facts) - A small Asteroid.
• Hidalgo (11 facts) - Asteroid with the largest known orbit with the second highest inclination to the ecliptic and second highest eccentricity of any asteroid.
• Hirayama family (3 facts) - A group of asteroids with similar orbital elements. The members of a given family are widely believed to have resulted from collisions between larger parent bodies.
• Icarus (13 facts) - Asteroid with the smallest orbit and highest eccentricity of any asteroid. It is the only asteroid known to come closer to the Sun than Mercury.
• Juno (10 facts) - An asteroid with a relatively large albedo.
• Pallas (14 facts) - The second asteroid to be discovered.
• Trojan asteroid (3 kinds, 31 facts) - Asteroid located at the points of Jupiter's orbit around the Sun that are equidistant from the Sun and Jupiter. About 15 are now known.
• Vesta (13 facts) - An asteroid in diameter. It is the brightest of all minor planets, at times approaching naked-eye visibility. Its spectrum can also be interpreted to mean a rotation period of 10^h40^m58^s.84.

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