Hubble image archive

Illustration of Asteroid Belts

The main asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter, and Trojan asteroids both lead and follow Jupiter. Scientists now know that asteroids were the original "building blocks" of the inner planets. Those that remain are airless rocks that failed to adhere to one another to become...

Date
Jan 1, 2021
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-2021-005-01ezcwr4r2es5jtq5f1w3wnsjm
By

The main asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter, and Trojan asteroids both lead and follow Jupiter. Scientists now know that asteroids were the original "building blocks" of the inner planets. Those that remain are airless rocks that failed to adhere to one another to become larger bodies as the solar system was forming 4.6 billion years ago.

Credits

Illustration

NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

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Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.

View on NASA.gov

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