wiki Word: asteroid belt

Definition: Numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter)

Roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter is the region known as the asteroid belt. Numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets occupy this region. In 1802 William was the first to suggest that the irregularly shaped bodies be placed into a separate category, named asteroids, after the Greek asteroeides, meaning star-like. Main belt is another term for the asteroid belt region so it is distinguished from other concentrations of minor planets within the Solar System like the Kuiper belt and scattered disk. Almost more than 50% of the mass within the asteroid belt is contained in its four largest objects: Ceres, 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, and 10 Hygiea. On January 1, 1801, the Chair of Astronomy at the University of Palermo, Sicily, found a tiny moving object in the asteroid belt and called it Ceres, which is the smallest dwarf planet that has been identified in the Solar System and is the only one in the asteroid belt. Ceres is also by far the most massive and largest body in the asteroid belt and contains 1/3 of the belt's total mass. On July 16, 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt. NASA's latest mission to explore the asteroid belt is the Dawn Mission, which was dispatched to explore Vesta and Ceres.If the probe is still operational after its examination of Vesta and Ceres, it will be given an extended mission that could allow additional exploration.

Pictures:

Giuseppe Piazzi

SO WHAT??? SECTION:

I think its important to know about the asteroid belt so we can better understand it and so we'll encourage further exploration. 

Bibliography:

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