Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. 23699 Paulgordan (1997 ND3) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on July 8, 1997 by P. G. Comba at Prescott. Asteroids (from Greek 'star' and 'like, in form') are a class of Small Solar System Bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disk of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet, but as small objects in the outer Solar System were discovered, their volatile-based surfaces were found to more closely resemble comets, and so were often distinguished from traditional asteroids.