Solar System Asteroids

Asteroids
Asteroids are similar to rocks found in space. While some are as large as boulders, others are smaller than grains of sand. These small asteroids have a very weak gravitational pull in the Asteroid belt because of which their shape is uneven and not perfectly round like the Solar System planets.
The asteroids located towards the inside of the belt are made of metal while those located towards the outside are rocky in composition. Traces of pure carbon have been found in asteroids.
Initially, the Solar System was a large cloud of gas and dust. This cloud then segregated to

form the Solar System planets that we know of today. A part of this cloud did not get affected by the strong gravitational pull. These particles then formed asteroids, comets and other minor planets.

Small asteroids cannot be seen because of which it is not possible to know how many exist. It is interesting to know the complete size of the asteroid belt. Scientists say that if we were to join all the asteroids together, it would roughly be the size of the Earth’s Moon. Other studies claim that it could be smaller.