Asteroid Belt Research Paper

The Asteroid Belt, also known as the Main Belt, is made of many asteroids found in the solar system. The process of discovering the Asteroid Belt began in the late 1700’s after Bode’s Law was found. Bode’s Law consists of a numerical equation that helped astronomers locate each planet according to a specific sequence (Chavis, 2010). This equation led to the discovery of a gap between Mars and Jupiter where another planet should be located, but isn’t. Guiseppe Piazzi discovered the asteroid but thought it was a comet and later thought it was a planet and named it Ceres. However, another astronomer came to the realization that Ceres was too small to be a planet and then referred to it as a asteroid (Chavis, 2010).
The Belt is located in a region
However, Jupiter’s gravitational forces were too strong, causing the material to not be able to form a planet. These gravitational forces can also cause asteroids to be moved out of the Belt, often sending them into the solar system. If an asteroid comes with 1.3 AU of the Sun, it is referred to as a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) (“Asteroid Belt”). In 1989, an asteroid about a quarter-mile in size came within 400,000 miles of Earth. (“Asteroid Belt”). It is also believed that an asteroid struck the Gulf of Mexico which was responsive for the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago (“Asteroid Belt Facts-Asteroid Pictures”). The main danger Earth faces is objects escaping the Asteroid Belt and colliding with the planets and moons in the solar system (“Asteroid Belt Facts-Asteroid
Damn studied Vesta and Ceres. The first part of the mission was to enter the orbit about Vesta. In July 2011, the craft successfully entered the orbit and took high resolution pictures and studies the asteroid for a period of 15 months (“Asteroid Belt Facts-Asteroid Pictures”). In March 2015, Dawn successfully entered into the orbit of Ceres about began studying its surface in late April (“Asteroid Belt Facts-Asteroid Pictures”). The purpose of this mission was to identify the conditions of the early solar system and the role of water and size in determining how to planets came to be (“Asteroid Belt Facts-Asteroid