Skip Navigation

ON THIS PAGE

    Don’t let the name fool you. Our solar system’s small bodies—asteroids, comets and meteors—pack big surprises. Asteroids and comets—and the meteors that sometimes come from them—are leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. While the planets and moons have changed over the millennia, many of these small chunks of ice, rock and metal have not. They are a lot like a fossil record of planetary evolution.

    There are currently known asteroids and known comets.

    More ›

    Eyes on the Solar System Ad

    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.

    Eyes on the Solar System ›

    Small Bodies News

    'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to travel through our solar system, got an unexpected boost in speed and shift in trajectory last year, a new study shows.
    More
    Our Solar System's First Known Interstellar Object Gets Unexpected Speed Boost
    Our Solar System's First Known Interstellar Object Gets Unexpected Speed Boost
    Asteroid 2018 LA entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 9:44 a.m. PDT (12:44 p.m. EDT, 16:44 UTC), and later disintegrated in the upper atmosphere near Botswana, Africa.
    More
    Tiny Asteroid Discovered Disintegrates Hours Later
    Tiny Asteroid Discovered Disintegrates Hours Later
    Europa Clipper will explore Jupiter's icy moon in-depth during multiple flybys, studying whether Europa could harbor conditions suitable for life.
    More
    Europa Clipper's Mission to Jupiter's Icy Moon Confirmed
    Europa Clipper's Mission to Jupiter's Icy Moon Confirmed
    The bit carousel, which lies at the heart of the rover's Sample Caching System, is now aboard NASA's newest rover.
    More
    Robotic Toolkit Added to NASA's Mars 2020 Rover
    Robotic Toolkit Added to NASA's Mars 2020 Rover
    NASA has selected two proposals for concept studies that could help us better understand the fundamental nature of space and how it changes in response to planetary atmospheres, radiation from the Sun, and interstellar particles.
    More
    NASA Selects Proposals to Further Study the Fundamental Nature of Space
    NASA Selects Proposals to Further Study the Fundamental Nature of Space
    After months grappling with the rugged reality of asteroid Bennu’s surface, the team leading NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission has selected four potential sites.
    More
    NASA Mission Selects Final Four Site Candidates for Asteroid Sample Return
    NASA Mission Selects Final Four Site Candidates for Asteroid Sample Return
    This new Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet's trademark Great Red Spot.
    More
    Hubble's New Portrait of Jupiter
    Hubble's New Portrait of Jupiter
    Recently, the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission made the first high-resolution measurements of an interplanetary shock.
    More
    NASA's MMS Finds First Interplanetary Shock
    NASA's MMS Finds First Interplanetary Shock
    Since NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched on Aug. 12, 2018, Earth has made a single trip around the Sun — while Parker is into its third orbit around our star.
    More
    One Year, 2 Trips Around Sun for NASA's Parker Solar Probe
    One Year, 2 Trips Around Sun for NASA's Parker Solar Probe
    The first briefcase-size CubeSats to journey to another planet have been honored for their role in NASA InSight's successful Mars landing.
    More
    MarCO Wins the 'Oscar' for Tiny Spacecraft
    MarCO Wins the 'Oscar' for Tiny Spacecraft
    CubeSats can be part of a historic mission—Artemis 2—when NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will send astronauts on their first flight aboard the Orion spacecraft.
    More
    NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative Opens Call for Payloads on Artemis 2 Mission
    NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative Opens Call for Payloads on Artemis 2 Mission
    NASA's Curiosity rover is discovering odd rocks halfway into a region called the "clay-bearing unit."
    More
    New Finds for Mars Rover, Seven Years After Landing
    New Finds for Mars Rover, Seven Years After Landing