Chart assignment
Charts to read and discuss
Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.
Chart 1 of 1 · Space
How many near-Earth asteroids are discovered each year?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Sky surveys found 3,240 new near-Earth asteroids in 2025, about 8.9 times the 363 found in 2000. Most new finds are small: the big ones, a kilometer or more across, are nearly all known already, and only 2 were found in 2025. Counts start in 1995, where NASA's survey statistics begin; a few hundred found earlier aren't shown.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: NASA/JPL Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), Discovery Statistics (Public domain (NASA data); credit NASA/JPL-Caltech CNEOS) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersTeachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.