Asteroid Formations

The asteroid has a very interesting way of forming. The first thing that happens is the gas and dust collect. Then small objects begin to form. This happens because of accretion and gravity. Accretion is the growth of an object because of the matter that collides with it and makes it bigger. It is very simalar to fusion. Finally when the large object can't accrete anymore because the planets Jupiter and Mars prevent objects from sticking together.

Is it a planet?

Pluto is not considered an official planet anymore.  Pluto is in the Kupier Belt, a circular ring of methane, ammonia and water ice chunks. Astronomers also found an object beyond Neptune larger than Pluto, Eris. Pluto and Eris have been named dwarf planets because they do not meet the 3 standards of a planet. The 3 standards each planet must meet are: 

- It needs to be in orbit around the sun

- It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape

- It needs to have "cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit

Pluto and Eris only meet 2 of these 3 standards. They miss the 3 because they are not the greatest object in it's orbit. Pluto 2320 km and that is only 0.07 times the mass of all the other objects in its orbit.

The Hermes Asteroid's Size

Hermes' diameter is .09 kilo meters (1000 yards). The Hermes asteroid can fit into the earth 14,173.5 times.

<------------ This is the Hermes Asteroid compared to Earth from a far.