Glossary term: 小行星
Description: 小行星是圍繞太陽或其他恆星或恆星遺跡運行的小天體。小行星是由不同成分組成的固態天體：其中一些富含碳，一些含有更多岩石物質（硅酸鹽），還有一些主要由金屬組成。
大多數小行星都是被引力束縛在一起的碎石堆，形狀凹凸不平。一些小行星擁有衛星——圍繞它們運行的其他小行星。
小行星比矮行星小（矮行星的質量足以讓引力把它們拉成近似圓形的形狀），而比流星體大；小行星的尺寸下限通常定為1到10米之間。如果太陽或其他恆星的加熱導致小天體散髮出氣體和塵埃，那麼這個天體就是彗星而不是小行星（儘管這種區別並不總是很明顯）。
在歷史上，小行星這個名稱用來稱呼任何圍繞太陽運行、但體積太小因而無法用望遠鏡分辨細節的天體。由於這些天體在望遠鏡中看起來像恆星一樣，因此小行星在西方被稱為“asteroids”，希臘語含義是“恆星狀的天體”。
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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval
This is an automated transliteration of the simplified Chinese translation of this term
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