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⇱ Asteroids, Comet, and Meteors

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👁 A full disc view of Bennu, whoing its surface littered with giant boulders.

Asteroids, Comets & Meteors

Our solar system's small bodies pack outsized intrigue

Asteroids

Rocky leftovers from planet formation.

Comets

Cosmic snowballs of gas and dust.

Meteors

AKA "shooting stars," the spectacle of debris falling and burning through the atmosphere.

Overview

Asteroids, comets, and meteoroids are chunks of rock, ice, and metal left over from the formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

Featured Story

NASA’s DART Mission Changed Orbit of Asteroid Didymos Around Sun

New research reveals that when NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in September…

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Featured Story

NASA’s Hubble Detects First-Ever Spin Reversal of Tiny Comet

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that the spinning of a small comet slowed and then reversed…

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Asteroids and Comets

Latest Count

Get an up-to-date count of asteroids and comets in our solar system.

Eyes on Asteroids

Explore the 3D world of asteroids, comets, and NEOs. Learn about past and future missions, tracking and predicting orbits, and close approaches to Earth.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Asteroid News

5 Min Read

How NASA’s Webb Helped Rule Out Asteroid’s Chance of 2032 Lunar Impact

Blog
5 Min Read

NASA’s DART Mission Changed Orbit of Asteroid Didymos Around Sun

Article
8 Min Read

Sugars, ‘Gum,’ Stardust Found in NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Samples

Article

Asteroid and Comet Resources

Explore this page for a curated collection of resources, including activities that can be done at home, as well as videos and animations, images, handouts, and online interactives. This resource package is suitable for educators, students, and anyone interested in learning more about asteroids and comets!

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👁 Two images of two gray colored asteroids. One of the space rocks is much larger.
A pair of stereoscopic images of the asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite, Selam, created using data collected by the L’LORRI camera on NASA's Lucy spacecraft in the minutes around closest approach on Nov. 1, 2023.
NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab for the original images/Brian May/Claudia Manzoni for stereo processing of the images.


More Resources

Lucy Mission Resource Package

Activities that can be done at home as well as videos, animations, stories, and articles.

For Kids: Asteroids, Comets & Meteors

Facts and activities for K-4 explorers.

NASA Photojournal: Small Bodies

Shooting stars are actually bits of debris that fall through our atmosphere.

COMET 3i/atlas

Interstellar Comet, Passing Through the Solar System

Only the third known object to venture into our solar system from interstellar space, Comet 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth, but is taking a tour past our celestial neighbors. NASA has been studying the icy visitor with space telescopes including Hubble, Webb, and SPHEREx. The comet passed Mars on Oct. 3, continued its trajectory to pass behind the Sun in late October, and will venture past Jupiter in March 2026, on its way out of our solar system.

Learn More About Comet 3I/ATLAS