minor planet
noun
: asteroid
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Once thought to be an asteroid, it is now classified as a comet or minor planet. 
Meghan Rose, Glamour, 11 Aug. 2022 An incredibly rare find, it was initially classed as a minor planet. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022 This piece of Vesta, the first from the minor planet that the Field Museum has had, was found in the Sahara desert and procured from a private meteorite collector, Terry Boudreaux, who frequently donates his findings to the Field Museum. Mariah Rush, chicagotribune.com, 30 June 2021 Hence Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein’s initial classification as a trans-Neptunian Object (TNO), which is defined as a minor planet or dwarf planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 24 June 2021 That’s the minor planet, or asteroid -- located on the lengthy asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter -- that recently was named for South Euclid and Lyndhurst, thanks to the efforts of Jay Haarburger. cleveland.com, 19 July 2019 Caltech’s Konstantin Batygin, for one, does not think the Kuiper Belt objects have enough mass to pull minor planets and asteroid out of their orbit. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 6 June 2018 Monuments, squares, streets and even a minor planet discovered in 1968 were named after her. Eva Sohlman, New York Times, 30 May 2018 Formed nearly a century ago to encourage international cooperation in the burgeoning field of astronomy, the IAU now regulates asteroid names—along with planets, minor planets, comets, moons and geographical features on planets and moons. Ben Panko, Smithsonian, 17 Mar. 2017 See More
Meghan Rose, Glamour, 11 Aug. 2022 An incredibly rare find, it was initially classed as a minor planet. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022 This piece of Vesta, the first from the minor planet that the Field Museum has had, was found in the Sahara desert and procured from a private meteorite collector, Terry Boudreaux, who frequently donates his findings to the Field Museum. Mariah Rush, chicagotribune.com, 30 June 2021 Hence Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein’s initial classification as a trans-Neptunian Object (TNO), which is defined as a minor planet or dwarf planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 24 June 2021 That’s the minor planet, or asteroid -- located on the lengthy asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter -- that recently was named for South Euclid and Lyndhurst, thanks to the efforts of Jay Haarburger. cleveland.com, 19 July 2019 Caltech’s Konstantin Batygin, for one, does not think the Kuiper Belt objects have enough mass to pull minor planets and asteroid out of their orbit. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 6 June 2018 Monuments, squares, streets and even a minor planet discovered in 1968 were named after her. Eva Sohlman, New York Times, 30 May 2018 Formed nearly a century ago to encourage international cooperation in the burgeoning field of astronomy, the IAU now regulates asteroid names—along with planets, minor planets, comets, moons and geographical features on planets and moons. Ben Panko, Smithsonian, 17 Mar. 2017 See More Word History
First Known Use
1823, in the meaning defined above