Meet the Asteroids Part 5 - Remarkable Rocks - Astronomy / Solar System Learning Song - The Nirks

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Learning, playing and having fun, We're the Nirks!

[00:00:14]Between Mars and Jupiter there is a large void An area to study that astronomers enjoy A gap with a ring made up of millions of planetoids Or, also known as a belt of asteroids Hurtling through space in their orbit round the sun These large, irregularly shaped rocks have a lot of fun Made up of different rocks and metals, each asteroid is unique Let’s go out and find some and see who we can meet Let’s go meet the asteroids They’re oddly shaped rocks, they’re not spheroids Careening through space in an expansive void Most of them won’t hit us, so don’t be paranoid Let’s go meet the asteroids!

[00:01:02]Let’s go meet more asteroids!

[00:01:06]I’m Hektor, a peanut shaped asteroid and the largest Jupiter Trojan Trojans are asteroids that orbit with Jupiter around the Sun Head of the Hektor Family – a group of asteroids from the same collision impact That’s how my moon Skamandrios that orbits me every 3 days came to be in fact I’m Elektra, the first quadruple asteroid found I have 3 moons, and my surface has traces of the building blocks of life OR organic compounds A G-Type, water rich asteroid with unusually high density In the outer main asteroid belt is where you can find me and my family I’m (88705) Potato, yes, that really is my name Named to commemorate the UN's 2008 International Year of the Potato, my claim to fame My name also highlights that asteroids tend to look like lumpy potatoes in space In the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars is where I find my place Let’s go meet the asteroids They’re oddly shaped rocks, they’re not spheroids Careening through space in an expansive void A collision with one is something Earth should avoid... Let’s go meet the asteroids!

[00:02:10]Let’s go and meet some more asteroids!

[00:02:14]Ka'epaoka' āwela – the Jupiter Trickster, that’s me In a 1 to 1 resonance with Jupiter, but I move oppositely I have a similar orbital period to Jupiter but orbit the Sun in retrograde or backward motion I’m also not from your solar system, I’m of extrasolar origin Polyhymnia, What am I made of? I’ll never tell you I’m a CUDO – Compact Ultra-Dense Object its true I’m so dense that scientists think I contain elements not on your periodic table Orbiting in the main asteroid belt Come visit me if you’re able I’m Glauke and I’m very slow I take about 50 days to rotate once, you know I have a unique tumbling rotation The main asteroid belt is my location Asteroids pass close by to Earth very often I’d say These are known as NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS or NEA’s Most are very small and would be harmless if they hit us But a few, referred to as potentially hazardous, make Earth a little nervous But not to worry, space centers around the world have telescopes that track them in the sky Like the Mount Lemmon Survey that found 2026 JH2 which just passed by ATLAS found 2024 YR4 that will pass in 2032 with a small chance of hitting Luna 2025 TF slipped by the Catalina Sky Survey and just missed hitting Antarctica Let’s go meet the asteroids They’re oddly shaped rocks, they’re not spheroids Careening through space in an expansive void Most of them won’t hit us, so don’t be paranoid Let’s go meet the asteroids!

[00:03:49]Let’s go meet some more asteroids!

[00:03:52]We’re twin asteroids 2019 PR2 and 2019 QR6 We’re the youngest pair of asteroids discovered to exist We likely broke off of the same parent asteroid about 300 years ago NEA’s with an eccentric orbit that takes us close to Earth and as far out as Saturn we go I’m Wilson-Harrington a Near Earth Object with a split personality Discovered in 1949 as a comet initially Then I was lost and rediscovered as an asteroid in 1979 In 1992, Scientists realized I was both of these, I’ll pass close by again on Halloween 2039 I’m Juno, one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt you see As asteroids were first being discovered Ceres was first, Pallas second and I was number 3 When astronomers observed me very closely They found a large indentation or crater that looks like someone took a bite out of me 4321 is my number designation I’m Zero, Named after Zero Mostel so that my name completes a countdown, just for fun!

[00:04:46]Let’s go meet the asteroids! Let’s go and meet some asteroids!