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Nonetheless, collisions between large asteroids occur and can produce an asteroid family, whose members have similar orbital characteristics and compositions. Individual asteroids within the belt are categorized by their spectra , with most falling into three basic groups: carbonaceous ( C-type ), silicate ( S-type ), and metal-rich ( M-type ).
Vesta is the brightest of the four main-belt asteroids that can, on occasion, be visible to the naked eye. [70] On some rare occasions, a near-Earth asteroid may briefly become visible without technical aid; see 99942 Apophis.
Asteroids contain a significant amount of valuable materials, including rare minerals and precious metals, which can be mined and transported back to Earth to be sold. With approximately as much iron as the world produces in 100,000 years, 16 Psyche is one such asteroid worth approximately $10 quintillion in metallic iron and nickel. [ 7 ]
NEOs are defined as asteroids that hug the inner solar system, where we live, coming within 1.3 astronomical units of the sun. A single astronomical unit is the distance from the sun to the Earth ...
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope images 42 asteroids, most larger than 100 kilometres in size. Astronomers reveal sharp detail of asteroids located between Mars and ...
"We can find these things, make these predictions and have the ability to plan." Still, NASA tracks close approaches and calculates the odds of those space rocks — including asteroids, meteors ...
As the decade continued, more and more academic interest surrounded the topic of asteroid mining. A good deal of serious academic consideration was aimed at mining asteroids located closer to Earth than the main asteroid belt. In particular, the asteroid groups Apollo and Amor were considered. [13]
The asteroids of the inner Solar System and Jupiter: The main asteroid belt is located between the orbits ... parameters for a Solar System that can support ...