Asteroids (As`teroids) , or Planetoids, small planets in orbits between those of Mars and Jupiter, surmised in 1596, all discovered in the present century, the first on Jan. 1, 1801, and named Ceres; gradually found to number more than 200.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Aster * As`ti