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Multiple realities
(covers information from several alternate timelines)
Internment Camp 371 asteroid

Asteroid containing Internment Camp 371

Nezu colony asteroid impact

Asteroids impacting a planet

An asteroid was a type of planetary body that was generally smaller than a planetoid, and which were the primary component of asteroid belts. They might host asteroid colonies.

Spock once made the distinction between a planetoid and asteroid while describing Gamma Canaris N as "more than an asteroid," "like a small planetoid." (TOS: "Metamorphosis")

A large asteroid hit the northern hemisphere of Terra Nova in 2083 about 500 kilometers north of the Terra Nova colony leaving impact fractures down to nearly 2,000 meters deep. The asteroid hit a location with a geology comprised primarily of beresium ore. The thermo-shock created a radioactive cloud that probably covered the planet's northern hemisphere for more than a year reaching to about 10 or 12 degrees north of the equator. The toxic debris killed the adult colonists of the Terra Nova Expedition and forced the children to relocate under the surface. Unaware of the truth, the colonists believed that Earth sent a ship to attack them because of discord between Earth and Terra Nova and the debris in the atmosphere was too dense for their distress call to reach Earth. When the Enterprise NX-01 visited the planet, they were able to locate a safe place to relocate the Novans to on another continent in the southern hemisphere which was unaffected by the toxic debris. (ENT: "Terra Nova")

In the 22nd century, Nausicaan pirates built cargo bases into asteroids. (ENT: "Fortunate Son")

In an alternate timeline, Commander Charles Tucker III and Sub-Commander T'Pol had their honeymoon in cargo bay 3 of Enterprise NX-01, which Tucker filled with sand they dug up from a passing asteroid. (ENT: "")

In 2259, the USS Enterprise returned to Rigel VII where it was determined that the collision of two moons thousands of years before had created a large debris field around the planet with a massive asteroid hitting the planet. Captain Christopher Pike and Dr. Joseph M'Benga believed that the impact likely wiped out half of the planet with the Kalar settlement being located a hemisphere away. The asteroid released an exotic form of radiation that caused the Kalar and anyone else on the planet amnesia with only the Kalar palace, which was built out of an ore that shielded against the radiation, being unaffected. In addition, the unknown elements creating the radiation affected the Enterprise via the debris field in orbit. After the mission, Pike had the Enterprise remove the asteroid from the planet and return it to the debris field as a more permanent solution to its effects on the Kalar. Although Commander Spock worried that doing so would violate the Prime Directive, Pike argued that the asteroid's presence was affecting the natural development of life on the planet and the Enterprise was merely setting things right. (SNW: "Among the Lotus Eaters")

In 2268, an asteroid threatened to collide with the planet Amerind. The Enterprise was ordered to prevent it, but was unsuccessful. The asteroid was eventually deflected by a device placed on the planet by an earlier civilization when the device was activated by Commander Spock. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome")

Also that year, what was initially believed to be a mere asteroid was in fact a spaceship. (TOS: "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky")

In the mid-2270s, while on an intercept course with V'ger, the Enterprise was trapped in an unstable wormhole created by an antimatter imbalance of the warp core, and was briefly threatened by an asteroid with a mass of point seven. Lieutenant Pavel Chekov destroyed it with a photon torpedo causing the wormhole to collapse freeing the Enterprise. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

In 2365, while on approach to Bringloid V, the USS Enterprise-D passed an asteroid. (TNG: "Up The Long Ladder")

The Dominion was fond of constructing facilities on or around asteroids, such as internment camps like Internment Camp 371 and ketracel-white facilities. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow", "By Inferno's Light", "A Time to Stand")

According to Croden, the Chamra Vortex is home to millions of asteroids. Croden concealed his daughter Yareth in one of the larger asteroids. (DS9: "Vortex")

The infamous Klingon penal colony Rura Penthe was constructed on a particularly inhospitable asteroid. (ENT: "Judgment"; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

In 2373, the Etanian Order bombarded a Nezu colony with manufactured asteroids as a prelude to annexing the planet. (VOY: "Rise")

In 2374, the Cardassians placed the Subspace power generator on the asteroid moon for the Cardassian orbital weapon platforms. (DS9: "Tears of the Prophets")

In the real world, eleven Sol system asteroids have been named after Star Trek-related people or references: 31556 Shatner, 2309 Mr. Spock, 4659 Roddenberry, 4864 Nimoy, 7307 Takei, 9777 Enterprise, 26733 Nanavisitor, 68410 Nichols, 155142 Tenagra, 391257 Wilwheaton, and 26734 Terryfarrell.
In the final draft script of ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights", Keyla purported that she and her husband had settled on an asteroid in their own star system and work to mine the asteroid had been initiated by a few hundred colonists, though the asteroid had then been attacked by Suliban.

Asteroids[]

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