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The total mass of the asteroid belt is estimated to be 2.39 × 10 21 kg, which is 3% of the mass of the Moon. The four largest objects, Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea, contain an estimated 62% of the belt's total mass, with 39% accounted for by Ceres alone.
- How Did The Asteroid Belt form?
- Belt Composition
- Asteroid Mining
- Building A Belt
- Discovery of The Asteroid Belt
- Additional Resources
- Bibliography
Early in the life of the solar system, dust and rock circling the sun were pulled together by gravity into planets. But not all of the ingredients created new worlds. A region between Mars and Jupiterbecame the asteroid belt. Occasionally people wonder whether the belt was made up of the remains of a destroyed planet, or a world that didn't quite g...
Most of the asteroids in the main belt are made of rock and stone, but a small portion of them contain iron and nickel metals. The remaining asteroids are made up of a mix of these, along with carbon-rich materials. Some of the more distant asteroids tend to contain more ices. Although they aren't large enough to maintain an atmosphere, but there i...
Asteroids have more than enough gold, plus other precious metals, to provide a few lifetimes' worth of fortunes. But there are plenty of other reasons asteroids are valuable. But how do we get these metals from these faraway asteroids? Perhaps the best way is to bring the spacerocks to Earth. Most of the metals we use in our everyday lives are buri...
The main belt lies between Mars and Jupiter, roughly two to four times the Earth-sun distance, and spans a region about 140 million miles across. Objects in the belt are divided into eight subgroups named after the main asteroids in each group. These groups are the Hungarias, Floras, Phocaea, Koronis, Eos, Themis, Cybeles and Hildas. Although Holly...
Johann Titius, an 18th-century German astronomer, noted a mathematical pattern in the layout of the planets and used it to predict the existence of one between Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers scoured the heavens in search of this missing body. In 1800, 25 astronomers formed a group known as the Celestial Police, each searching 15 degrees of the Zodia...
You can read more about asteroids and the updated current asteroid count at NASA's Solar System Exploration asteroid page. Additionally you can learn more about the formation of the main asteroid belt in this article by Cosmos Magazine.
"Asteroids". NASA Solar System Exploration (2021). "The Grand Tack". Southwest Research Institute. "Forming Terrestrial Planets". Science (2014). "UCLA Astronomers Identify Evidence Of Asteroid Belt Around Nearby Star: Findings Indicate Potential For Planet Or Asteroid Formation". University of California (2001). "Asteroids: Structure and compositi...
Mar 9, 2021 · Ceres is the single largest asteroid in the belt, roughly the size of Australia with a mass nearly half that of all the material of the belt, according to Raymond. “It’s like tiny little ...
Jul 11, 2011 · Ceres accounts for nearly a third of the asteroid belt's mass, and is the largest "dwarf planet" in the solar system, outranking Pluto. Dawn will be the first spacecraft to orbit one body,...
Jun 21, 2001 · They found that interactions between the embryos and Jupiter caused more than 90% of the mass in the asteroid belt to be cleared in less than a few hundred million years.
- Derek C. Richardson
- dcr@astro.umd.edu
- 2001
Jul 13, 2021 · Main Asteroid Belt: The majority of known asteroids orbit within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, generally with not very elongated orbits. The belt is estimated to contain between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids larger than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter, and millions of smaller ones.
5 days ago · Ceres, dwarf planet, the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt, and the first asteroid to be discovered. It revolves around the Sun once in 4.61 Earth years at a mean distance of 2.77 astronomical units. Ceres was named after the ancient Roman grain goddess and the patron goddess of Sicily.
