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In addition to planets, the Sun is also surrounded by numerous celestial bodies. Those are the asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteorites. The motion of all these objects is governed by the gravitational force of the Sun.
Asteroids:
Asteroids are rocky celestial objects that orbit in space and revolve around the Sun in a particular path.
The asteroids are rocks of various sizes. The biggest ones can be hundreds of kilometres in diameter, whereas the smallest ones can be hundreds of metres. With the help of a large telescope, these objects can be seen.
Asteroid
The most famous asteroids are the Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, and Hygiea. Ceres is the largest asteroid of size \(946\ km\) in the asteroid belt.
Asteroid belt:
A large gap is present between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, which was filled by half a million pieces of rocks. These asteroids form a belt-like structure between Mars and Jupiter known as the asteroid belt. The belt looks like a dividing line between the inner rocky planets and the outer gaseous giants in the solar system.
Asteroid belt
Important!
Do you know!
For every \(50\ million\ years\), the Earth gets hit by \(10\ km\) wide asteroid.
For every \(50\ million\ years\), the Earth gets hit by \(10\ km\) wide asteroid.
Reference:
https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/solar-system-infographic_6635045.htm#page=1&query=solar%20system&position=18
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