Answer: Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the sun. They are much smaller than planets and are difficult to observe because of their size and distance from Earth. Additionally, they do not emit their own light and reflect only a small amount of sunlight, making them even harder to detect.
In the early years of astronomy, telescopes were not powerful enough to detect asteroids. The first telescopes were invented in the early 17th century, but they were only capable of magnifying objects a few times. It wasn't until the 19th century that telescopes were developed that were powerful enough to detect asteroids.
The discovery of the first asteroid, Ceres, in 1801, was due to the work of Giuseppe Piazzi, an Italian astronomer. Piazzi observed Ceres over a period of several nights and noticed that it appeared to move relative to the background stars. This led him to believe that he had discovered a new planet, but further observations showed that Ceres was much smaller than any known planet.
After the discovery of Ceres, astronomers began to search for more asteroids, and over the next few decades, several more were discovered. The process was slow, however, because the asteroids were difficult to detect, and it was not until the late 19th century that their existence was fully accepted by the scientific community.
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