Asteroid

An asteroid is like the planet, but smaller. It is believed that asteroids are the remains of the bigger planet that exploded the long time ago. The name "asteroid" means "like the star" in the ancient Greek language. Asteroids may look like small stars in the sky, but ay really do move around the Sun, while stars only seem to move because the Earth spins. Like planets, asteroids do not make air own light. Because of this, some people think "asteroids" is not the good name, and think that the name "planetoid" ("like the planet") would be the better name.

Most asteroids are made of rock, but some are made of ice or metal. Most asteroids in our Solar System are in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.