SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Composition. The three broad composition classes of asteroids are C-, S-, and M-types. The C-type (chondrite) asteroids are most common. They probably consist of clay and silicate rocks, and are dark in appearance.

Detailed explanation-2: -The current belt consists primarily of three categories of asteroids: C-type or carbonaceous asteroids, S-type or silicate asteroids, and M-type or metallic asteroids.

Detailed explanation-3: -The four largest asteroids in the belt are called Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. These large asteroids make up about half of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. Scientists like to say that if you combined all of these rocky asteroids together, it would make a planet a bit smaller than Earth’s moon.

Detailed explanation-4: -An asteroid discovered in the 19th century has just been identified as the most crowded we’ve ever found. It’s called 130 Elektra, or just Elektra for short, and astronomers have just discovered that it has not one, nor two, but three smaller satellite companions, or moons.

Detailed explanation-5: -Of the roughly one million known asteroids the greatest number are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, approximately 2 to 4 AU from the Sun, in the main asteroid belt. Asteroids are generally classified to be of three types: C-type, M-type, and S-type.