
Asteroid or Meteor: What's the Difference? - NASA Space Place
Sep 25, 2025 · An asteroid is a small rocky object that orbits the Sun. Asteroids are smaller than a planet, but they are larger than the pebble-size objects we call meteoroids.
What Is an Asteroid? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Sep 25, 2025 · Scientists can learn about asteroids by studying meteorites: tiny bits of asteroids that have flown through our atmosphere and landed on Earth’s surface. Several NASA space missions …
Solar System | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Sep 25, 2025 · explore Asteroid or Meteor: What's the... Learn more about asteroids, meteors, meteoroids, meteorites, and comets! explore What Is an Asteroid? And what can we learn from these …
All About the Sun | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Sep 25, 2025 · The Sun contains almost ALL of the material in our solar system. 99% of it. All the planets, asteroids and comets add up to less than 1% of the total. The Sun is so far away that it …
Glossary | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Sep 25, 2025 · Solar system: A set that includes a star and all of the matter that orbits it, including planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and other objects. Solar wind: The constant stream of particles …
How Did the Solar System Form? - NASA Space Place
Aug 29, 2022 · Asteroids in the asteroid belt are the bits and pieces of the early solar system that could never quite form a planet. Way off in the outer reaches of the solar system are comets.
What Is an Orbit? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Sep 25, 2025 · A satellite can be natural, like Earth or the Moon. Since the Earth orbits the Sun, you’re actually in orbit right now! Many planets, like Earth, have moons that orbit them. A satellite can also …
Make asteroids you can eat! - NASA Space Place
Sep 25, 2025 · Make asteroids you can eat! Create your own odd-shaped asteroids out of plain old mashed potatoes. Bake them in the oven to turn them (more or less) asteroid color. Then eat your …
What Is the Big Bang? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Sep 25, 2025 · Everything we can see in our universe today—stars, planets, comets, asteroids—they weren't there at the beginning. Where did they come from? A Tiny, Hot Beginning When the universe …
Mesosphere | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Sep 25, 2025 · The middle layer The mesosphere lies between the thermosphere and the stratosphere. “Meso” means middle, and this is the highest layer of the atmosphere in which the gases are all …