Asteroids are objects in outter space that orbit the sun, but aren't quite
             large enough to be considered planets. Some scientists refer to them as "minor
             planets" while others call them "planetoids". They are made up of rocky and
             metallic materials. They come in many shapes, from round to irregular shapes. The size of Asteroids ranges from the smaller ones which can be the size of pebbles to very large ones with diameters of 1000 km. Some asteroids even have orbitting moons.
             Most asteroids are located in the Asteroid Belt. The Asteroid Belt is adoughnut-shaped collection of asteroids that are located located between Mars and Jupiter. It consists of 40,000 known asteroids that are over one kilometer and also contains many smaller asteroids. The reason that this asteroid belt exists is because Jupiter's strong gravitational force "shepherds" the asteroids by pulling the asteroids away from the sun which keeps them from coliding into the other inner planets. The total mass of all the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt would be equal to the size of our Moon.
             Asteroids are said to be fragments that were left over from the formation of the solar system when it was first created. Scientists say that they are the remains of planets that "Should have been, but not quite were."
             The word asteroid mean starlike in Greek. This is what the astronomer William Herschel first used to describe these boddies that he was first to observe in the early 1800's. Most of our knowledge today is based upon observance from telescopes on Earth. Asteroids do not concern us much unless there orbits come close to Earth. If an Asteroid was to collide with Earth it could possibly wipe out existance as we know it, that is depending on the size of it.
             A famous Asteroid is Ceres. It is the largest of all the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt. It was also the first asteroid ever discoved. Ceres is about equal to the size of the state of ...