Asteroids and Comets

An announcement was made on March 15 of the discovery of the furthest object so far seen in our solar system. The object, named Sedna, is estimated to be 1300 to 1800 km in diameter (Pluto is 2400 km in diameter). For more information, see the NASA Press Release

Asteroid Fact Sheet
Comet Fact Sheet
Near Earth Object Fact Sheet
Images of Asteroids - from the Catalog of Spaceborne Imaging
Images of Comets - from the Catalog of Spaceborne Imaging
NSSDC Photo Gallery - More Images of Asteroids
NSSDC Photo Gallery - More Images of Comets
Reference Books on Asteroids
Reference Books on Comets
Frequently Asked Questions - Asteroids
Frequently Asked Questions - Comets
What Are Asteroids?
Images and Information on the Comet SL-9 collision with Jupiter
PDS Small Bodies Node: University of Maryland

Missions to Asteroids and Comets

Rosetta - ESA Mission to Rendezvous with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (2004)

Hayabusa (Muses-C) - ISAS (Japan) Sample Return Mission to Asteroid 25143 Itokawa (2003)

CONTOUR - NASA Mission to fly by three comet nuclei (2002)

Stardust - NASA Discovery Mission to Comet P/Wild 2 (1999)

Cassini - NASA/ESA mission to Saturn through the Asteroid Belt

Deep Space 1 - NASA Flyby Mission to asteroid 1992 KD (1998)

Galileo - NASA Mission to Jupiter via asteroids Gaspra and Ida

Genesis - NASA Discovery Solar Wind Sample Return Mission (2001)

Giotto - ESA mission to Comets Halley and Grigg-Skjellerup

ICE (ISEE-3) - NASA Mission to Comet Giacobini-Zinner

NEAR - NASA Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous with 433 Eros

Sakigake - Japanese ISAS mission to Comet Halley

Suisei - Japanese ISAS mission to Comet Halley

Vega 1 - Soviet mission to Venus and Comet Halley

Vega 2 - Soviet mission to Venus and Comet Halley

Future Missions

Deep Impact - NASA Flyby of Comet P/Tempel 1 (2004)

NEAP - Rendezvous Mission to Asteroid 4660 Nereus (2004)

Dawn - NASA Orbiter of Asteroids Ceres and Vesta (2006)

New Horizons - NASA Mission to fly by Pluto and into the Kuiper Belt (2006)

Champollion/Deep Space 4 - [Cancelled] NASA Orbiter and Lander to comet Tempel 1 (2003)

Comet and Asteroid Data and Images Available from NSSDC

International Halley Watch CD-ROMs

Giotto Grigg-Skjellerup Encounter Data on CD-ROM

Shoemaker-Levy 9/Jupiter Collision CD-ROMs

Asteroid Data Tables - PDS compilations of asteroid data

Galileo CD-ROMs

Galileo CD-ROM volume 16 - images of SL-9 and Ida

Other Asteroid Resources

Arecibo radar images of asteroid 216 Kleopatra - NASA Press Release, 4 May 2000

Moon discovered orbiting asteroid 45 Eugenia - Announcement of discovery made in November 1998

Asteroid 1997 XF₁₁ - Information on the close approach in 2028

New masses calculated for 3 largest asteroids - U.S. Naval Observatory press release, 7 January 1998

Crater on Vesta imaged by HST - Press release (4 Sept. 1997) and images

General Information on Asteroids

Information on Asteroid 433 Eros

Information on Asteroid 253 Mathilde

Near Earth Asteroid Tracking System (NEAT) Press Release

Asteroid Feature Names - from the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Minor Planet Center: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Lists of Unusual Minor Planets: Minor Planets Center

Asteroid Radar Research

More about Asteroids - The Nine Planets

Other Comet Resources

Comet and Spacecraft positions - generates coordinates for certain spacecraft and comets at a given time

Images and Information on the Comet SL-9 collision with Jupiter

Information on Comet Hale-Bopp

Information on Comet Hyakutake

Seiichi Yoshida's Comet Site

Comet Observations Page: JPL

More about Comets - The Nine Planets

Chiron Perihelion Campaign (CPC)
Mysterious Sedna - Astronomers have discovered a mysterious planet-like body in the distant reaches of the solar system. - NASA Science News, 15 March 2004
First Rotation Period of a Kuiper Belt Object Measured - European Space Agency press release, 5 November 1998
New Kuiper Belt Object Discovered, possibly larger than Ceres - Minor Planet Circular, 1 December 2000
Kuiper Belt Object with Diameter of roughly 1300 km Discovered - NASA Press Release, 7 October 2002

Meteors and Meteorites

Meteor showers - Sky and Telescope Magazine

American Meteor Society - Geneseo, N.Y.

International Meteor Organization

North American Meteor Network

Testing suspected meteorites - Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Meteorite classification chart - New England Meteoritical Services

Meteors and their properties - Lunar and Planetary Lab

Fireball report form - American Meteor Society

Leonid sample return payload recovered and an update on results

More on meteors and meteorites - The Nine Planets

Other Planet Home Pages

Author/Curator:
Dr. David R. Williams, dwilliam@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
NSSDC, Mail Code 633
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
+1-301-286-1258