Table of Contents
Is Earth inside or outside of the asteroid belt?
Planets that are “outside” – that is, after – the asteroid belt are called outer planets: so Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are inner planets, while Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are the outer planets.
Where is Earth located in the asteroid belt?
The distance between the Asteroid Belt and Earth varies considerably depending on where we measure to. Based on its average distance from the Sun, the distance between Earth and the closest edge of the Belt can be said to be between 1.2 to 2.2 AUs, or 179.5 and 329 million km (111.5 and 204.43 million mi).
Is Earth in the asteroid belt?
Most of these objects, called planetoids or asteroids — meaning “star-like” — orbit between Mars and Jupiter in a grouping known as the Main Asteroid Belt. The Main Asteroid Belt lies more than two-and-a-half times as far as Earth does from the sun. It contains millions of asteroids, according to NASA.
Where is the earth located?
Earth is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way (called the Orion Arm) which lies about two-thirds of the way out from the center of the Galaxy. Here we are part of the Solar System – a group of eight planets, as well as numerous comets and asteroids and dwarf planets which orbit the Sun.
Where is the planet Earth located in the solar system?
Earth is the third planet from the Sun at a distance of about 93 million miles (150 million km).
Is the asteroid belt part of the Earth?
Astronomers used to believe that the objects within the asteroid belt were the remnant of a planet smaller than Earth’s moon that had exploded. However this theory is now accepted to be untrue and it is thought the asteroids were never part of a planet.
How is the Kuiper belt similar to the asteroid belt?
The Latest. Similar to the asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt is a region of leftovers from the solar system’s early history. Like asteroid belt, it has also been shaped by a giant planet, although it’s more of a thick disk (like a donut) than a thin belt.
What’s the average distance between an asteroid and the Earth?
Image via NASA. Outer space is vast. And thus, despite there being many millions (possibly billions) of objects in the asteroid belt, the average distance between them is 600,000 miles (about a million km).
Who was the first person to discover the asteroid belt?
The asteroid belt was first discovered in 1801. This is when Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres. Ceres is a dwarf planet and was the first object to be observed in the asteroid belt.