(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Most of the solar system's millions of asteroids make their homes circling in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Some of these space rocks, however, get pushed out of the belt by Jupiter's massive gravity kicking them into elongated orbits that bring them much closer to the sun — and, indeed, within a few million miles or kilometers of us.
Astronomers call those "near-Earth asteroids." Their close approaches to Earth make them appealing targets for scientists. Earlier this year, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft visited one near-Earth asteroid, Bennu, to collect a sample of its surface and return it to Earth, with delivery scheduled for 2023.
But near-Earth asteroids could also pose a threat to Earth. There's an estimated 25,000 near-Earth asteroids larger than 500 feet (140 meters) in size — 15,000 of which, scientists believe, have yet to be discovered. Even the smallest of those would be enough to devastate a large city.
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November 23, 2021 at 07:07PM
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NASA's DART asteroid-impact mission explained in pictures - Space.com
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