What is an asteroid belt?
Quick Answer
An asteroid belt is a region of the Solar System with many rocky objects orbiting the Sun. The main asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter.
The Full Story
The main asteroid belt is a broad zone between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where countless rocky bodies travel around the Sun. Despite the popular image of a crowded region, the asteroids are very spread out, so spacecraft can pass through with little risk of collision. The belt likely contains material left over from the Solar System’s formation that never formed into a planet, partly because Jupiter’s gravity disturbed the region. Ceres, the largest object in the belt, is classified as a dwarf planet.
Key Facts
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"Why the asteroid belt is not a giant rock wall"
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