Asteroids

This book gives a detailed introduction to the thousands and thousands of smaller bodies in the solar system. Written for interested laymen, amateur astronomers and students it describes the nature and origin of asteroids, dwarf planets and comets, and gives detailed information about their role in the solar system.

Combining history, pop science, and in-depth reporting, a fascinating account of asteroids that hit Earth long ago, and those streaming toward us now, as well as how we are preparing against asteroid-caused catastrophe.

In the 19th century when asteroids were first discovered, the continuum of sizes in the solar system was not understood, because many people thought of the solar system as a Sun orbited by nine planets. However, as observers' abilities to see smaller and smaller bodies in the solar system improves because of better instrumentation, and as scientists continue trying to catalog the number of large asteroidal bodies that someday might collide with the Earth, the solar system is viewed as a collection of objects with a whole continuum of sizes.