Asteroid

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Large main-belt asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Mathilde has dimensions of about 37 by 29 miles. Imaged by NASA spacecraft.

An asteroid is a rocky body in space that is not a planet, moon, nor comet. The word asteroid is Greek for "star-like," which is actually inaccurate in terms of the modern meaning of the word star. The International Astronomical Union uses the term minor planet, while some others prefer the term planetoid, meaning "planet-like."

1 Size and Composition
2 Asteroid Belt
3 Dinosaur Extinction
4 Related References
5 See Also

Size and Composition

Ceres, with a diameter of 952 km, was the largest known asteroid until its reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006. After the reclassification, the largest known asteroid is 2 Pallas, which has a diameter of 531 km. Not much is known for sure regarding asteroid composition except through meteorite analysis and old spectroscopic surveys. The main categories which asteroids are currently fitted into are:

C-type - carbonaceous
S-type - siliceous
M-type - metallic

The majority of asteroids are classified as being C-type, however spectroscopes are not necessarily reliable in determining the composition of asteroids, and the actual composition of asteroids is under debate.

Asteroid Belt

NASA diagram shows the location of the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, the Kuiper belt, and the Sedna planetoid, and the presumed distance of the Oort cloud compared to the solar system planets.

The greatest collection of asteroids in the solar system appears to be in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Of course, the asteroid belt contains only a total estimated mass of 4% of the Earth’s moon, and this is scattered over a fairly wide area, contrary to many movies which incorporate thickly inhabited asteroid belt scenes.

Evolutionists generally believe that the asteroid belt is a collection of leftovers from the solar system’s formation, pieces which were not able to collect and form into a planet. A currently less popular idea is that the belt is a leftover of a destroyed planet. The Creationist model allows for the asteroids to have been created on day four. Although there does not appear to be any mention of any planetary destruction in the Bible, such a possibility is not necessarily ruled out.

Dinosaur Extinction

Main Article: Dinosaur extinction

An asteroid impact is also used by Evolutionists as an explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs, as well as a number of contemporaneous life forms. However, there is no solid evidence for such a scenario, and it has been pointed out that many types of life forms that would have been sensitive to an asteroid impact of sufficient magnitude to cause mass extinction show no signs of having experienced such an event.