LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Asteroids: Planets
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Asteroids are rocky objects. There are many different types of asteroid, consisting of different amounts of metal, silicate and carbon. They ... have different histories. Some of them have completely melted like the planets, whereas others have not melted but have been altered by water. This means there are a wide variety of structures both inside and on the surface of asteroids, formed by their turbulent existence. Â
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Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects too small to be considered planets. They are sometimes called minor planets. They range in size from Ceres, with a diameter of about 1000 km, down to a few centimeters or less. The ajacent image shows the asteroid Gaspra, as photographed by the Galileo space probe (Ref). The name asteroids, meaning "star-like", derives from the fact that, compared with comets, they are star-like in appearance because since they are rocky they do not emit the gases and dust that give comets their fuzzy appearance.
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Asteroids and comets are considered remnants from the giant cloud of gas and dust that condensed to create the sun, planets, and moons some 4.5 billion years ago. Today, most asteroids orbit the sun in a tightly packed belt located between Mars and Jupiter. Comets are relegated to either a cloud or belt on the solar system fringe. Gravitational tugs, orbital collisions, and interstellar jostles occasionally perturb an asteroid or comet onto a wayward path.
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Asteroids represent material left over from the formation of the solar system. Although is has been suggested that asteroids are the remains of a planet that was destroyed in a massive collision, it is more likely that they represent material that never coalesced into a planet. If the estimated total mass of all asteroids was gathered into a single object, the object would be less than half the diameter of the Moon (Ref).
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Ever since the beginning of the 19th Century, astronomers have been aware of the existence of asteroids, but astrologers have only been using them as part of the horoscope since 1973. And even so, only a small number of astrologers actually use the asteroids when reading charts for people. This is in large part because the asteroids (or dwarf planets, as some are recently re-defined astronomically) are not well understood, except for the first four to be discovered: Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta. But now, the Iris Report aims to change all that! Here you will find interpretations for twelve major dwarf planets and asteroids, and their impact in the natal chart. They add balance, detail and depth of meaning to astrological interpretation.
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Ceres is the largest of the asteroids. It was the first asteroid ever discovered (by the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi on January 1, 1801). Ceres is the size of the state of Texas! It is so huge in comparison with the other asteroids that its mass is equal to over one-third of the 2.3 x 1021 kg estimated total mass of all the 3,000 cataloged asteroids. Ceres is about 578 miles (930 kilometers) in diameter. Ceres is now considered to be a dwarf planet.
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