Revised: May 2009

Everyone learns about the handful of "major planets" in elementary school, but the Sun's followers truly number in the thousands. Minor planets-asteroids and comets-circle the Sun in flocks and as loners, ranging in size from dust motes to globes larger across than Tennessee. The minor planets close to the Sun are metallic or stony, while those farther out are "dirty snowballs"-worlds of ice laced with stones.

The minor planets are worlds of opportunity and danger for mankind. They could be mined for materials to build and support space colonies and industries on Earth. The danger lies in near-Earth objects (NEOs) or meteoroids, minor planets with orbits that intersect our Earth's orbit. Most meteoroids are about the size of sand grains. Unless they are properly protected, spacecraft can be punctured by meteoroids. Most meteoroids burn up harmlessly above our heads as meteors, also known as shooting stars. The meteoroids that survive their trip through our atmosphere, called meteorites, are usually small. However, it would not take much for a meteorite to cause mankind serious damage: Barringer Crater in Arizona, which is about three-quarters of a mile wide, was made by a meteorite about a hundred and fifty feet in diameter. If another meteorite of the same size hit a city, the devastation would be similar to that caused by one of the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The impacts of larger meteorites are currently thought to be a cause of mass extinctions, such as the disappearance of the dinosaurs. If you are a NASA HQ employee, please consider subscribing to our news alert on Near-Earth objects to get the latest news.

All items are available at the Headquarters Library, except as noted. NASA Headquarters employees and contractors: call (358-0172) or email Library@hq.nasa.gov for information on borrowing or in-library use of any of these items. Members of the public, contact your Local Library for the availability of these items. NASA Headquarters employees can request additional materials or research on this topic. The Library welcomes your comments or suggestions about this webpage.

NASA Policies

NASA Procedural Requirements 8020.12C: Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions

 

NASA Procedural Requirements 8715.3C: NASA General Safety Program Requirements

 

Books

Bobrowsky, Peter T., and Hans Rickman. Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society: An Interdisciplinary Approach. New York, NY: Springer, 2007.

QB721 .C645 2007 BOOKSTACKS

 

Lewis, John S. Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publ., 1996.

QB500.266.U6 L49 1996 BOOKSTACKS

 

McCurdy, Howard E. Low-cost Innovation in Spaceflight: The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker Mission. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of External Relations, History Division, 2005.

TL795.4 .M34 2004 BOOKSTACKS

Note: This title is available online as document no. 20050159707 through the NASA Technical Reports Server.

 

National Research Council. Committee on Space Shuttle Meteoroid/Debris Risk Management. Protecting the Space Shuttle From Meteoroids and Orbital Debris. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997.

TL795.5 .P77 1997 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Committee on International Space Station Meteoroid/Debris Risk Management. Protecting the Space Station From Meteoroids and Orbital Debris. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997.

TL797 .P77 1997 BOOKSTACKS

 

Neugebauer, Marcia. Comets in the Post-Halley Era. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.

QB721 .C6494 1991 BOOKSTACKS

 

Peebles, Curtis. Asteroids: A History. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000.

QB651 .P44 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

Schmadel, Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. New York, NY: Springer, 1999.

QB651 .S35 1999 READY REFERENCE

 

Spencer, John R. The Great Comet Crash: The Impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

QB723.S56 G74 1995 BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science. Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. The Threat of Near-Earth Asteroids. Washington, DC: US GPO, 2003.

KF27 .S39 T47 2003 BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. Near-Earth Objects (NEOS): Status of the Survey Program and Review of NASA's 2007 Report to Congress. Washington, DC: US GPO, 2008.

KF27 .S3995 2007N BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Near-Earth Object Survey and Deflection Analysis of Alternatives: Report to Congress. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2007.

QB651 .N43 2007 BOOKSTACKS

Multimedia

Córdova, France A. To Boldly Go: America's Next Era in Space: Probing the Primordial Constituents of the Solar System. Washington, DC: NASA, 1995.

TL521.3 .A36 1995 V.7 VIDEO VIDEO-COLL

 

Shoemaker, Eugene Merle. Asteroids: Deadly Impact. Washington, DC: National Geographic Video, 1997.

QB651 .A83 1997 VIDEO VIDEO-COLL

 

Yoshikama, Makato. Return of the Falcon: The story of "Hayabusa," a Spacecraft to Explore an Asteroid. Tokyo, Japan: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2007.

QB651 .J2 R48 2007 DVD VIDEO-COLL

Note: The NASA HQ Library also has a booklet that accompanies this disk.

Internet Resources

Baalke, Ron. Near-Earth Object Program. April 1, 2009 [May 11, 2009].

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

 

Dunbar, Brian. Dawn Mission. Feb. 26, 2009 [May 11, 2009].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html

 

__________. Deep Impact. Feb. 12, 2008 [May 11, 2009].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html

Note: Since the success of Deep Impact's primary mission, NASA has renamed the spacecraft and has sent it on the EPOXI mission

 

__________. Stardust. Feb. 6, 2009 [May 11, 2009].

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/main/index.html

 

Morrison, David. Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards. Dec. 30, 2008 [May 11, 2009].

http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/

 

Williams, David R. Asteroids. Aug. 22, 2008 [May 11, 2009].

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/asteroidpage.html

 

__________. Comets. July 25, 2008 [May 11, 2009].

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/cometpage.html

 

Other Websites

 

Barringer Crater Company. 1998 [6 Aug. 2007].

http://www.barringercrater.com/

Note: This is the website of the family firm that owns the famous crater in Arizona.

 

Kronk, Gary. Meteor Showers Online. 2007 [May 11, 2009].

http://meteorshowersonline.com/

Note: Lists the major meteor showers for the year.

 

The Meteoritical Society. Feb. 3, 2009 [May 11, 2009].

http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/

Note: Meteoritics is the study of meteorites, as opposed to meteorology, which studies the weather.

 

Near Earth Object Information Centre. March 19, 2009 [May 11, 2009].

http://www.spacecentre.co.uk/neo/index.html

 

Williams, Gareth, and Dan Green. International Comet Quarterly. Sept. 19, 2008. [May 11, 2009].

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/icq/icq.html

 

__________. Minor Planet Center. May 7, 2009. [May 11, 2009].

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html