MoneyAstronomers Detect a Colour-Changing Asteroid For The Very First Time

Asteroids, also referred to as minor planets, are small, rocky bodies floating mostly in the asteroid belt – between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They are mainly made of materials (metal or rock) left over from the formation of the inner solar system.

Part of the Aten group, the asteroid was discovered in September 2003 by astronomers of the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search at Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S. Its radar images revealed its shape to be like "a hippopotamus wading in a river." It flew past Earth on Dec 22, 2018 – its closest approach until 2070.

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51. Have astronomers detected any Earth-sized planets around normal stars yet? a. Yes, the Kepler spacecraft is just starting to find them. b. Yes, although If this parcel of gas eventually found its way to a distance of 1 AU from the Sun without changing its orbital angular momentum, what would be its

Have astronomers detected any Earth-sized planets around normal stars yet? No, we do not have the technology to detect such low-mass planets yet. When astronomers began searching for extra-solar planets , they were surprised to discover Jupiter-sized planets much closer than 1 AU from their

Asteroid Vesta was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers in 1807. It’s roughly about the length of the U.S. state of Arizona and its surface is made of frozen lava.

A giant crater on the asteroid's south pole – 285 miles (460 kms) across and eight miles (13 kilometers) deep – has piqued the interests of scientists world over. According to NASA, the debris from the crash that gouged out the crater contributes to nearly five per cent of all meteorites found on Earth.

Ceres and Vesta (pictured) are the two biggest asteroids in this belt. Vesta is rocky, while Ceres is believed to contain massive quantities of ice.

A display at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Canada houses as many as 30 diverse specimens from Vesta, making it the most comprehensive collection of Vesta meteorites.

(Pictured) A technician at the ROM inspects a slice of meteorite that likely came from the asteroid Vesta.

New images from asteroid probe offer clues on planet formation

Photographs snapped by a shoebox-sized probe that explored the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu have offered new clues about its composition, insights that will help scientists understand the formation of our solar system. The German-French Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) hitched a ride on Japan's Hayabusa2 spaceship, touching down on the 900-meter (3,000 feet) wide asteroid, whose orbit lies mostly between Earth and Mars, on October 3, 2018. Ryugu's gravity is 66,500 times weaker than Earth's, and the forward motion of wheels would have launched MASCOT back into space.

Officially termed 21 Lutetia, this asteroid was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt from the balcony of his apartment in Paris in 1852. Lutetia is Paris' Latin name.

Lutetia, about which little is known, is believed to be about 83.3 miles (134 kms) in diameter.

Asteroid Eros, the first to be orbited and landed on by a spacecraft, was discovered on Aug. 13, 1898, by German astronomer Gustav Witt at the Urania Observatory in Berlin, Germany. It is named after the god of love in Greek mythology.

Discovered by the Galileo probe in 1993, asteroid Ida is 35-mile (56 kms) long and has a tiny moon, Dactyl.

The gravitational field on Ida is so weak that an astronaut could jump from one end to the other in a single leap. Also Ida's moon Dactyl (pictured, R) is the first confirmed satellite of an asteroid.

Ida and Gaspra were visited by the Jupiter-bound space probe Galileo as its secondary missions. The mission was in response to a new NASA policy directing planners to consider asteroid flybys for all spacecraft crossing the asteroid belt.

Weird 'whiplash' planet is unlike anything astronomers have ever seen

Planet HR 5183 b is three times more massive than Jupiter and has an extraordinary, egg-shaped orbit around its host star.

This asteroid is named after a resort on the Crimean peninsula. Interestingly, many of the asteroid's craters have been named for resorts and spas from across the world.

First spotted in 1934, Toutatis was lost till French astronomer Christian Pollas rediscovered it on Jan. 4, 1989. Named after a Celtic god, Toutatis zipped past Earth at a distance of 4.3 million miles (6.9 million kms) on Dec. 12, 2012 – its closest approach till 2069.

Discovered in 1999, Bennu got its name only in 2012 when a nine-year-old from North Carolina, U.S., won an international contest held to name the asteroid.

Bennu is the target of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which aims to collect samples from the asteroid and return them to Earth for study in 2023.

(Pictured) A combination of images acquired by OSIRIS-REx spacecraft of a region in Bennu’s northern hemisphere.

Discovered in 1998 and named after Japanese rocket scientist Hideo Itokawa, the asteroid was the first from where samples were collected by a spacecraft and brought to Earth for analysis. The analysis revealed that the bean-shaped Itokawa was part of a larger body which was broken apart by a collision.

(Pictured) This combination image from Nov. 19, 2005, shows Itokawa and its surface (R).