The 10 Best Dino-Killing, Ice Spewing, Earth-Destroying Asteroids

Turns out today is Asteroid Day, and it's a day well-deserved.

Asteroids are our window into the formation of the solar system. They're some of the oldest objects around and they hold secrets that could help us understand big cosmic questions, such as how the planets formed and how life originated here on Earth. We also know from Earth's geologic record that they can leave a devastating mark on our planet. Ever heard of Meteor Crater?

Astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Brian May, along with B612 Foundation president Danica Remy, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and filmmaker Grig Richters founded Asteroid Day in 2014 to raise awareness about potentially hazardous asteroids, educate the public about the risks, and drum up support for missions to study them.

To mark the day, we've compiled a list of 10 of our favorite asteroids (and one comet we particularly like).