Eyes on Asteroids - NASA/JPL
Explore the 3D world of Asteroids, Comets and NEOs. Learn about past and future missions, tracking and predicting orbits, and close approaches to Earth.
Asteroid Facts - Science@NASA
Nov 3, 2024 · Main Asteroid Belt: The majority of known asteroids orbit within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, generally with not very elongated orbits. The belt is estimated to contain between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids larger than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter, and millions of smaller ones.
Asteroids - Science@NASA
Jan 17, 2025 · Most asteroids can be found orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt. Asteroids range in size from Vesta – the largest at about 329 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter – to bodies that are less than 33 feet (10 meters) across.
Picturing Our Solar System’s Asteroid Belt - NASA
Jun 30, 2021 · Most of this ancient space rubble can be found orbiting our Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt. Asteroids range in size from Vesta – the largest at about 329 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter – to bodies that are less than 33 feet (10 meters) across.
NASA’s Webb Reveals Smallest Asteroids Yet Found in Main Asteroid Belt
Dec 20, 2024 · A team led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge repurposed Webb’s observations of a distant star to reveal a population of small …
Tracking Evolution in the Asteroid Belt - Science@NASA
5 days ago · Hubble captured images of the two most massive objects in the Asteroid Belt, Ceres and Vesta, to help NASA better plan the Dawn spacecraft’s visit to these two worlds.
In Depth - NASA Solar System Exploration
Main Asteroid Belt: The majority of known asteroids orbit within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, generally with not very elongated orbits. The belt is estimated to contain between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids larger than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter, and millions of …
What Is an Asteroid? - NASA Space Place
Jan 14, 2025 · Most of them live in the main asteroid belt —a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Most asteroids in our solar system can be found in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids hang out in other places, too. For example, some asteroids are found in the orbital path of planets.
Asteroid Fast Facts - NASA
Mar 31, 2014 · At 5.4 kilometers in diameter, the largest known potentially hazardous asteroid is Toutatis. By comparison, asteroids that populate the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and pose no threat to Earth, can be as big as 940 kilometers (about 583 miles) across. How is an Asteroid Orbit Calculated?
Asteroids Exploration - Science@NASA
Nov 3, 2024 · NASA’s Lucy mission will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids in the solar system’s main asteroid belt, and Trojan asteroids that share an orbit around the Sun with Jupiter.