Fast Facts for Kids
Asteroid Belt Facts for Kids

Asteroid Belt Facts for Kids

  • Region Name: Asteroid Belt
  • Region Nicknames: Main Asteroid Belt or Main Belt
  • Region Location: Between Jupiter and Mars
  • Formation: Between 4.5 and 4.6 billion years ago
  • Known Asteroids: 1.1 to 1.9 million (=>0.6 mile diameter)
  • Largest Asteroid: Ceres (Dwarf Planet)
  • Total Mass: 3-4% of the Moon

18 Asteroid Facts For Kids

  1. The Asteroid Belt is a circumstellar disc region between the inner and outer Solar System.
  2. The Asteroid Belt is sometimes referred to as the main asteroid belt or the main belt.
  3. The Asteroid Belt was discovered by Italian Giuseppe Piazzi on January 1st, 1801, when he discovered the dwarf planet Ceres.
  4. The Asteroid Belt is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
  5. There are between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids in the Asteroid Belt with a diameter of at least 0.6 miles.
  6. Even with millions of asteroids in the Asteroid Belt there is still a lot of empty space between them.
  7. The total mass of the entire Asteroid Belt is estimated to be only 3-4% of the mass of Earth’s moon.
  8. It is estimated that 62% of the entire mass of the Asteroid Belt resides in three large bodies, Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea.
  9. There are three primary types of asteroids found in the Asteroid Belt: carbonaceous asteroids (C-type), silicate asteroids (S-type), and metallic asteroids (M-type).
  10. Around 75% of the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt are carbonaceous asteroids.
  11. Carbonaceous asteroids contain large amounts of carbon.
  12. Silicate asteroids contain a large amount of siliceous.
  13. Metallic asteroids contain a large amount of metal (iron for example).
  14. The largest object in the Asteroid Belt is the dwarf planet Ceres with a diameter of 590.3 miles.
  15. It is estimated that 99.9% of all meteorites found on Earth came from the Asteroid Belt.
  16. The first man-made spacecraft to ever travel through the Asteroid Belt was NASA’s Pioneer 10 space probe on July 16, 1972.
  17. It’s estimated that a man-made space probe traveling through the Asteroid belt has only a 1 in 1 billion chance of hitting an asteroid.
  18. The extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago is believed to have been caused by an asteroid impact in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico from an asteroid that came from the Asteroid Belt.

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Asteroid Belt Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on the Asteroid Belt. Below are three pictures of the Asteroid Belt. These pictures should help you better understand the Asteroid Belt, the collection of Asteroids between the inner and outer planets.

Asteroid Belt Orbiting the Sun

A picture of the Asteroid Belt orbiting the Sun.

Asteroids Colliding in the Asteroid Belt

A picture of Asteroids colliding in the Asteroid Belt.

Asteroid in the Asteroid Belt

A picture of a Asteroid in the Asteroid Belt.

Asteroid Belt Resources

We hope you found the above Asteroid Belt facts, information, data, and pictures both fun and educational. You can continue to research the Asteroid Belt using one of the below additional resources. They were chosen for their credibility and accuracy; you can trust their information when it comes to the Asteroid Belt. Thank you for choosing Fast Facts for Kids.