Asteroid Belt

All About the Asteroid Belt

By Madison Nef

What is the asteroid belt?

Almost all asteroids in the solar system are found in a region of the solar system out beyond Mars. These asteroids form the Asteroid Belt. Others orbit in near-Earth space; and a few migrate or are thrown out to the outer solar system by different gravitational pulls. The four largest asteroids currently in the belt are Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. They contain more than half the mass of the entire belt! The rest of the mass is contained in many other much smaller asteroids. There was a theory once that if you combined all the asteroids; they would make up the missing “Fifth” rocky planet. Planetary scientists estimate that if you could put all that material together that exists there today, it would make a tiny world- smaller than Earth’s moon.

The belt is located in an area of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. That places it between 2.2 and 3.2 AU from the Sun. The belt is about 1 AU thick, and the average distance between objects in the belt is quite large. If you could stand on an asteroid and look around, the next one would be too far away to see.

The solar system contains many different types of asteroids, grouped by the minerals they contain. The abundances of precious metals such as nickel, iron, titanium; and water make asteroids an attractive target for mining operations when humans decide to expand their presence through interplanetary space. For example, water from asteroids could serve colonies in space, while the minerals and metals would be used to build habitats and grow food for future space colony inhabitants. Beginning 2013, companies interested in asteroid mining began announcing their plans for future operations on distant asteroids. In addition, NASA is looking into similar missions. The biggest obstacles to asteroid mining are the need to develop affordable spaceflight technology that would allow people to actually reach the asteroids.

Random facts about the belt

·        The asteroids in the belt are mainly comprised of rock and stone, and most are solid. However, a few are just small floating piles of rubble.

·        The belt contains many millions of asteroids.

·        Only a few of these asteroids are large- most are just the size of pebbles.

·        The asteroid Ceres is also designated as a dwarf planet, the largest one in the inner solar system.

·        We know of at least 7,000 asteroids.

·        The belt may contain many objects, but they are spread out over a huge area of space (like I said above). This has allowed spacecraft to move through the belt without hitting anything.

·        The Asteroid Belt is often referred to as the “Main Belt” to distinguish it from other groups of asteroids; such as the Lagrangians and Centaurs.