The concept that concerns us in this review has an exclusive use in the field of astronomy, which is that science that deals with studying the composition of the stars, the positions and the movements they perform.
Astronomy: minor body of the solar system, or small planet, rocky in appearance and orbiting the sun
While a asteroid it's a minor body of the solar system, rocky characteristics, smaller than a planet, orbiting the sun in an orbit interior to that of Neptune.
But in addition to the difference in size, asteroids differ from planets by their shapes, since in the case of the aforementioned they are characterized by being spherical due to the great mass they have, while in the case of asteroids the shapes that they can adopt are the most diverse.
Also, asteroids are called planetoids or minor planets, because that is exactly what they are, little planets.
Meanwhile, most of the asteroids that belong to our solar system have semi-stable orbits between Mars and Jupiter, making up what is known as asteroid belt or main belt, the region of the solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and which is home to a multitude of asteroids, although, anyway, there are some that are diverted to orbits that cross those of the larger planets.
Discovery and naming
At the beginning of XIX century, more precisely in the year 1801, the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the asteroid or minor planet Ceres; Piazzi's discovery was followed by many more and so much so that today the existence of approximately two million asteroids.
If one looks at an asteroid from the earth, it has the same appearance as a star and it has been precisely because of this situation that they have been called that way, since in Greek asteroid refers star figure; the person responsible for such a denomination was the English mathematician and astronomer John Herschel, who gave them that name shortly after they were spotted.
The closest asteroids to our planet earth are: Love, the asteroids Apollo and Aten.
Scientific interest and concern for a collision with the earth
Today and always there was a great interest on the part of astronomical science in terms of knowing more and more about these bodies, meanwhile, at present that desire has been increasing and this led to the creation of various programs that are precisely oriented to discover the asteroids that inhabit our solar system and especially those that are close to our planet.
Meanwhile, this interest in knowing those asteroids that pass close to the earth has in addition to a scientific objective, a control objective as a consequence that there is the possibility that some of these bodies may collide with our planet, so it is preferable to keep them in mind and guarded to prevent such an event from occurring.
There is a permanent control of their trajectories, their distances and lists are made periodically of those that are closest and can cause a collision.
Events of this type have already occurred in our past, and many even attribute the disappearance of the famous dinosaurs from our earth to the collision with an asteroid that made them literally disappear.
The size of these bodies is considerable and therefore, a collision with our planet could have devastating consequences for life that exists today.
Although the possibilities of this happening are remote and millions of years may pass, it is a reality that must be paid attention to, not ceasing to monitor and therefore it is important to take into account the positions that these bodies observe with respect to the earth, basically because it is about elements that are not harmless but quite the opposite ...
