8 Epic Photos of Asteroids Seen Up Close - Gizmodo
These wandering rocks are incredibly important objects for scientists seeking information about the formation of the solar system and even life on Earth.
Some meteorites (the space rocks that fall to Earth) contain amino acids, and plenty of asteroids contain evidence that they once carried water.
The history of life on Earth could be chalked up to a couple lucky fallen rocks, in theory.
Ceres is gargantuan as far as asteroids go, making up 25% of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter all by itself.The Apollonian asteroid 2014 JO25 is an oddly shaped space rock that rotates once about every 4.5 hours.The observations offer a unique perspective to what life is like for a space rock: Seemingly statuesque in still imagery, these objects are actually hurtling through space at breakneck speeds, rotating all the while.
The second-largest object in the asteroid belt after Ceres, Vesta was also visited by Dawn.
Should the mission be completed successfully, it’ll be the largest amount of extraterrestrial material brought to Earth since the Apollo missions, and the samples are sure to reveal new clues to the history of the solar system, if not the origin of life.