Asteroid Belt

Asteroids Characteristics

Similar to comets, but lack coma which appears in a tail

How large are objects in Asteroid Belts?

Range from as small as a dust particle to 1000 km wide

When was the first asteroid belt discovered?

1801

What is the Asteroid Belt?

A circumstellar disc in the solar system located roughly between the planets mars and jupiter; made up of small rocks and debris called asteroids and dwarf planets.

Size of Asteroid Belts and objects characteristics

Asteroid belts are huge, and objects are widely spread out

What can Gravitational Forces do?

Can throw asteroids out of belt and send them towards the solar system

How is an Asteroid Belt formed?

Dust and rocks circling the sun, which are pulled together by gravity into planets. regions between mars and jupiter only created an asteroid belt

Half of Asteroid Belts

Half of their size is made up in 4 objects. These are dwarf planet called Ceres, and others like Vesta, Pallas, and Hygeia

Main Asteroid Belt

Majority of known asteroids which orbit around asteroid belts between Mars and Jupiter; Contains 1.1 to 1.9 million asteroids larger then 1 kilometer in diameter

Asteroid´s materials

rock and metal; irregular shape