Vulcanoid

Okay kiddo, let’s talk about vulcanoids! You may have heard of a planet called Vulcan in Star Trek, but in real life, vulcanoids aren’t quite the same thing.

Vulcanoids are a type of space rock that orbit the sun between Mercury and the sun itself. They are named after the Roman god of fire, Vulcan, because they are so close to the sun that they are often exposed to intense heat.

These rocks are really interesting because they are tiny, no bigger than a few hundred meters wide. This is really small compared to planets, which can be thousands of kilometers in diameter.

Scientists think that vulcanoids might be left over from the early solar system, when the planets were still forming. They could help us understand how the solar system developed and evolved over time.

But here’s the tricky part: scientists have never actually found a vulcanoid! They are extremely difficult to spot because they are so close to the sun and are therefore hidden by its glare. But scientists are still looking and hope to find one soon.

So, to summarize, vulcanoids are small space rocks that orbit really close to the sun, and could give us clues about the early solar system. But they’re really hard to find!