Unlocking History Through
Asteroids
Janet Kuypers
4/17/24
Numerous astronomy lovers have a special love affair
With anything not from this planet... some even hoard
Catalogued asteroids in clear display boxes, because
To some people, asteroids are truly precious stones.
They unlock Earth’s — & the Solar System’s — history.
Don’t believe me? I mean, astronomers believe a
Massive asteroid collided with Earth long ago,
clouding all the atmosphere, killing all dinosaurs,
and leaving a thin layer of Iridium all over Earth...
so, these tiny shards can show so much of our history.
Back in the day (like, 1802), astronomer Heinrich Olbers
Discovered and named the 2nd asteroid he ever found,
Pallas — when they didn’t even know what asteroids
Were, so it was given a minor-planet designation.
Once called “2 Pallas”, it was 2nd to his 1st asteroid
Found (now called Ceres, one of the largest asteroids).
...& it’s kind of cool that he named them both after
Greek mythology gods, for the goddess of wisdom...
And yeah, 5 years later he discovered the asteroid
Vesta, which is even larger than either Pallas. But,
the thing is, while these “minor planets” were called
planets, Olbers also actually imagined the Asteroid
Belt, as this magical place all these objects orbit.
We may not be back in the day, but it makes perfect
Sense that these protected shards of rocks we display
Come from some magical place in our Solar System,
And are worth so much more than we could ever know.
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