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Asteroids, Comets & Meteors

Don’t let the name fool you. Our solar system’s small bodies – asteroids, comets, and meteors –pack big surprises. These chunks of rock, ice and metal are leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They are a lot like a fossil record of our early solar system. There are currently known asteroids and known comets.

Explore the 3D world of Asteroids, Comets and NEOs. Learn about past and future missions, tracking and predicting orbits, and close approaches to Earth.

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Explore Select Asteroids, Comets and Meteor Showers

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Explore in 3D—Eyes on the Solar System

Eyes on the Solar System lets you explore the planets, their moons, asteroids, comets and the spacecraft exploring them from 1950 to 2050. Ride with the Curiosity Rover as it lands on Mars or fly by Pluto with the New Horizons spacecraft all from the comfort of your home computer.

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Related News

This page showcases our resources for those interested in learning more about the Lucy Mission.

Lucy Mission Resources

Lucy Mission Resources

NASA has extended the planetary science missions of eight of its spacecraft due to their scientific productivity and potential to deepen our knowledge.

Exploration Extended for 8 Planetary Science Missions

Exploration Extended for 8 Planetary Science Missions

This page showcases our resources for those interested in learning more about OSIRIS-REx.

OSIRIS-REx Resources

OSIRIS-REx Resources

Psyche was tested to ensure it can operate in the extreme conditions it will face on its trip to a metal-rich asteroid.

Shake and Bake: NASA's Psyche Is Tested in Spacelike Conditions

Shake and Bake: NASA's Psyche Is Tested in Spacelike Conditions

Asteroid 2022 EB5's discovery marks the fifth time an asteroid has been observed before hitting Earth's atmosphere.

NASA System Predicts Impact of Small Asteroid

NASA System Predicts Impact of Small Asteroid

This February’s calendar has lots of twos. There was 02-02-2022 and now 02-22-2022 – which some people are calling “Twosday.”

10 Things in Space That Come in Twos

10 Things in Space That Come in Twos

NASA-funded ATLAS has reached become the first survey capable of searching the entire dark sky every 24 hours for near-Earth objects.

NASA Asteroid Tracking System Now Capable of Full Sky Search

NASA Asteroid Tracking System Now Capable of Full Sky Search

NEA Scout will visit an asteroid estimated to be smaller than a school bus – the smallest asteroid ever to be studied by a spacecraft.

NASA Solar Sail Mission to Chase Tiny Asteroid After Artemis I Launch

NASA Solar Sail Mission to Chase Tiny Asteroid After Artemis I Launch

Just two weeks after launch, NASA’s DART spacecraft opened its “eye” and returned its first images from space.

With Its Single "Eye," NASA's DART Returns First Images from Space

With Its Single "Eye," NASA's DART Returns First Images from Space

Launching in August 2022 and arriving at the asteroid belt in 2026, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will orbit a world we can barely pinpoint from Earth.

How NASA's Psyche Mission Will Explore an Unexplored World

How NASA's Psyche Mission Will Explore an Unexplored World

About 55 miles above Earth, minuscule fireballs leave a puff of tiny particles called meteoric smoke.

Tiny Meteors Leave Smoke in the Atmosphere. NASA's Studying It.

Tiny Meteors Leave Smoke in the Atmosphere. NASA's Studying It.

Learn more about the growing population of near-Earth objects with NASA’s new 3D real-time web-based application.

NASA's ‘Eyes on Asteroids' Reveals Our Near-Earth Object Neighborhood

NASA's ‘Eyes on Asteroids' Reveals Our Near-Earth Object Neighborhood

The new system improves NASA's capabilities to assess the impact risk of asteroids that can come close to our planet.

NASA's Next-Generation Asteroid Impact Monitoring System Goes Online

NASA's Next-Generation Asteroid Impact Monitoring System Goes Online

NASA received 23 millimeter-sized grains and 4 containers of even finer material from Ryugu – 10% of the total collected – from JAXA,

NASA Receives Special Cosmic Delivery of Asteroid Sample from Japan

NASA Receives Special Cosmic Delivery of Asteroid Sample from Japan

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) launched at 1:21 a.m. ET on Nov. 24, 2021, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet Earth

NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet Earth

DART is the first mission that will demonstrate asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.

An Overview of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART)

An Overview of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART)

DART team members have filled the spacecraft with fuel, and are running rehearsals as they approach launch on Nov. 23, 2021.

NASA's DART Prepares for Launch in First Planetary Defense Test Mission

NASA's DART Prepares for Launch in First Planetary Defense Test Mission

New research found that Bennu's highly porous rocks are responsible for the surface's surprising lack of fine regolith.

NASA Mission Helps Solve a Mystery: Why Are Some Asteroid Surfaces Rocky?

NASA Mission Helps Solve a Mystery: Why Are Some Asteroid Surfaces Rocky?

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft has arrived in California, its final stop on Earth.

DART Arrives at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Its Final Stop Before Launch

DART Arrives at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Its Final Stop Before Launch

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft launched Oct. 16, 2021, on a 12-year journey to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.

NASA's Lucy Mission: A Journey to the Young Solar System

NASA's Lucy Mission: A Journey to the Young Solar System

JPL's lucky peanuts are an unofficial tradition at big mission events.

What Are JPL's Lucky Peanuts?

What Are JPL's Lucky Peanuts?

Set to launch next year, NASA’s Psyche mission marks the first time the agency has set out to explore an asteroid richer in metal than rock or ice.

Science of Psyche: Unique Asteroid Holds Clues to Early Solar System

Science of Psyche: Unique Asteroid Holds Clues to Early Solar System

DART's mission is to determine if flying a spacecraft into a small solar system body could be a reliable technique to deflect an asteroid.

DART Gets Its CubeSat Companion, Its Last Major Piece

DART Gets Its CubeSat Companion, Its Last Major Piece

Futuristic electric thrusters emitting a cool blue glow will guide the Psyche spacecraft through deep space to a metal-rich asteroid.

Solar Electric Propulsion Makes NASA's Psyche Spacecraft Go

Solar Electric Propulsion Makes NASA's Psyche Spacecraft Go

What's the next big thing? What might space missions in 2050 and beyond set out to discover?

Visionary Tech Concepts Could Pioneer the Future in Space

Visionary Tech Concepts Could Pioneer the Future in Space