The Asteroid Belt: Between Mars and Jupiter

The asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter, forming a vast ring of rocky bodies.
It contains millions of asteroids, from dust grains to dwarf planets like Ceres.
If all its material were combined, the belt would still be smaller than Earth’s Moon.
Jupiter’s strong gravity prevented these rocks from forming a planet.
The belt stretches about 140 million miles wide.
Asteroids in the belt rarely collide, but when they do, fragments can become meteorites.
The largest bodies, like Vesta and Pallas, are hundreds of miles across.
NASA’s Dawn mission visited both Vesta and Ceres, revealing their unique geology.
The asteroid belt is mostly empty space, with vast distances between objects.
Studying the belt helps scientists learn about the early solar system’s building blocks.