| Eric_Weisstein\'s_World_of_Astronomy___Asteroids Dynamical groups of asteroids, mathematical formulas, the Tunguska event. |
| European_Asteroid_Research_Node Association of European research groups active in asteroid research. Links to member sites and resources useful for asteroid research. |
| Exploring_The_Planets__Asteroids Offers general scientific overview with history and images by the National Air and Space Museum. |
| Introduction_to_Asteroids Covers history, asteroid composition, Earth collisions. |
| List_of_Double_Minor_Planets Known or suspected asteroids with satellites. |
| Minor_Planet_Groups_and_Families Listing and description of dynamical groups and physical families of asteroids. |
| Minor_Planet_Observer Lightcurve collaboration, physical studies, software, Palmer Divide Observatory. |
| Minor_Planets Offers updated alphabetical list of minor planet names. |
| News_on_Hilda_Asteroids A review of current knowledge of this dynamical group. Overview, low eccentricity Hildas, the Schubart family, numbered Hildas of the Palomar-Leiden survey. |
| Nine_Planets__Asteroids Overview of current scientific knowledge of asteroids. |
| Physical_studies_of_asteroids_at_Poznan_Observatory Light curves, database of asteroid spin vectors. |
| Serra_Designs_-_Asteroid_Model_Series Scientifically accurate scale models of asteroids. |
| Small_Main-Belt_Asteroid_Spectroscopic_Survey_II Data sets and references to scientific literature describing results. |
| Small_World_Atlas_2000 Cartography of irregularly shaped asteroids and satellites. Maps, images, related papers. |
| Solar_System_Exploration__Asteroids Basic description, overview of asteroid science. |
| Suspected_and_known_binary_asteroids List of suspected binary asteroids with bibliographic references. |
| Views_of_the_Solar_System__Asteroid_Introduction Background information, details on selected asteroids, image gallery. |
| Wikipedia___Asteroid Encyclopedia article covers history, groups of asteroids, spectral types. Tables of largest and notable asteroids. |
| Windows_to_the_Universe__Asteroids Description, data on selected asteroids, images. |
| Space_com__More_Moons_Around_Earth? Article describing the asteroid Cruithne, and orbital motions at gravitational balance points in space that temporarily pull asteroids into Earth orbits. (October 29, 1999) |
| Nobel_Prize_for_Chemistry Lists laureates from 1901 to 1999. Includes photographs. |
| Nobel_Prize_in_Chemistry Lists laureates from 1901 to the present day. |
| Nobel_Prize_Winners_for_Chemistry Lists laureates from 1901 to 1997. Includes biography of each winner. |
| Winners_of_the_Nobel_Prize_in_Chemistry A comprehensive list of Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry. |
| British_Astronomical_Association_Comet_Section News, recent observations, observing information and advice. |
| Canadian_Comet_Catchers A list of comets discovered by Canadian astronomers. |
| Catalogue_of_Comet_Discoveries Downloadable catalog. Also news, reading list, articles, links. |
| Comet_comet_comet Overview of comets, as described by a professional comet researcher. |
| Comet_Information_and_the_International_Comet_Quarterly From the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. News, observations, orbital data, comet names and designations, links. |
| Comet_LINEAR Offers report and observations of a breakup of a comet in July 2000. |
| Comet_Observations Catalogue of images, ordered by comet. |
| Comet_Section_of_Germany News, observations, analyses of current comets, images, archives, links. |
| Exploring_The_Planets__Comets History, orbits, composition, ways comets are studied, relation to meteor showers. Comets Halley, Shoemaker-Levy 9. From the National Air and Space Museum. |
| Glossary Glossary of comet (and astronomical) terms. |
| How_Stuff_Works__Comet Informative illustrated explanation of what comets are, what they are made of, where they come from and how to observe them. |
| The_International_Comet_Quarterly Updated news letter on observation opportunities, designation of names and discoveries. Includes observation data and links. |
| Lists_and_Plots__Comets Offers updated orbital data, lists and orbit diagrams. Includes near Earth objects and minor planets. |
| Nakano_Note Orbit computations for selected comets. |
| Small_Comets The original discovery and latest news about a new class of interplanetary bodies. |
| SOHO_Sungrazers Images of sun grazing comets from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Also, background, archives, and how to interpret images and report new discoveries. |
Within a day, egg-bespattered astronomers used 1990 data to issue a revised estimate. It's safe to say that the asteroid will miss us by a good 600,000 kilometers -- about twice the distance of the moon.From the movie "Armageddon". ©1998, Touchstone Pictures.Still, the confluence of events has put The Why Files in an asteroidal frame of mind. Nobody knows the destruction that would result from a collision with one of these sub-planetary objects, but the evidence points to sudden, catastrophic and global damage. You could say it's pretty amazing that 1998 turned out to be a boom year for asteroids. Unlike planets, these misshapen agglomerations of rock and debris are not named for ancient gods. Instead they must answer to clunky handles like "1997 YF11" or "1998 ML14"). Asteroids are also far punier than planets: Ceres, the largest, is about 1,000 kilometers in diameter, but most are under a kilometer across. Most asteroids orbit between Mars and Jupiter, crashing into each other in a silent version of 3-D bumper cars that slowly grinds them to bits. Puny but potentOccasionally, an asteroid's orbit becomes more egg-shaped. As the orbit grows more elliptical, it eventually may begin crossing Earth's orbit and become subject to a collision with Earth..
Small bits -- ranging up to maybe pebble size, may become the meteors that brighten our night sky. It's the rarer hunks that are more than 1 kilometer across that spawn doomsday scenarios and Hollywood thrillers.The glare of attention on asteroids has also helped spark a flood of research on the link between asteroids and meteors, on why they leave the asteroid belt, and whether certain asteroids are masquerading as comets.It's a sure sign of Halloween. So let's squelch the preamble and check out the rocks from the dawn of time. We satisfied our obsession with asteroids with information gathered at the October, 1998, meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, conveniently held in Why-Files-ville -- Madison, Wis. How bad can an asteroid impact get?
