Asteroids

The 'Asteroid Belt' is composed of an unknown (but very high) number of Asteroids in an orbit around the sun many 10's of millions of kilometers in circumference.

This asteroids can collide or orbit for years without coming within a million miles of another. As a result the distance between one and its closest neighbor can be a few feet (or less) to 1000's of miles apart and this is changing all the time.

I do not believe the 'Average' separation has reliably been calculated, but the answer would probably be larger than a 1000 miles. This figure would include particles the size of a fist, or smaller, as well. As you include asteroids of only a certain size or larger; then the average separation would also get larger (since there are fewer and fewer numbers of asteroids as the size increases).

Yes, there are numerous asteroids in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, but some may enter Saturn's orbit. These asteroids are often referred to as Trojan asteroids or irregular moons. They share an orbit with Saturn, either ahead of or behind the planet along its path around the Sun.

According to the US naval astronomical applications department the 3rd largest asteroid body is called 4 Vesta.

Ref: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/asteroid_masses

Actually, they do not know what the largest asteroid is since Pallas and Vesta both have been designated as the second largest asteroid after Ceres, which is no longer an asteroid. Since Ceres is a dwarf planet now, Pallas or Vesta is the largest now. Since Ceres is a dwarf planet, the third largest asteroid is Hygiea now. Pallas and Vesta are the top two largest asteroids now. Vesta is more massive than Pallas, though.

Asteroids can vary widely in size, with diameters ranging from a few meters to several hundred kilometers. The largest known asteroid, Ceres, has a diameter of about 940 kilometers, while smaller asteroids may only be a few meters across.

The mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs is believed to have been caused by a large asteroid impact that occurred around 66 million years ago. This impact resulted in a catastrophic chain of events, including widespread wildfires, tsunamis, and a nuclear winter-like effect caused by dust blocking out sunlight, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species.

The main difference is that asteroids tend to be dense chunks of solid rock, iron and organic material, whereas comets are less dense and more loose lumps of ice, dirt, rock and organic matter - "dirty snowballs." Asteroids seem to be dead, inert chunks of solid rock, but the ice in comets means that when they get close to the Sun, some of that ice starts to melt and evaporate into space, making the comet grow a fuzzy, thin atmosphere called a coma, which ultimately streams out behind the comet (pushed out by the Solar Wind, a stream of charged particles flowing from the Sun into space) and grows into a tail.

Most asteroids are held in a belt between Mars and Jupiter, where they follow roughly circular, planet-like orbits. Comets, on the other hand, tend to come from much further out in the Solar System - either from the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, or the Oort Cloud much further out - and have very long, thin, highly eccentric and elliptical orbits.

Recently though scientists have found the distinction between asteroids and comets isn't all that clear cut. Objects called centaurs, which travel between the orbits of Saturn and Neptune, look like asteroids and have asteroid-like orbits, yet are made of significant amounts of ice and often get fuzzy when they get relatively close to the Sun. Many asteroids in the outer part of the main asteroid belt contain a lot of ice. And many asteroids we can point to seem to be ancient ex-comets whose ice has all melted and evaporated, leaving behind the dust and rock that has compacted into a single mass - an asteroid.

What happened when an asteroid hit the Earth is debatable but many scientists believe that this is what may have wiped out the dinosaurs. Some people believe that the asteroid created a dust cloud that covered the planet and caused a winter that froze most life.

Pallas or 2 Pallas has a mass of about 2.11 x 1020 kg

The Earth for comparison has a mass of 5.9736 x 1024 kg

The weight of an asteroid can vary greatly depending on its size and composition. Smaller asteroids can weigh only a few kilograms, while larger ones can weigh several billion kilograms. For example, the asteroid Ceres, which is the largest object in the asteroid belt, has an estimated weight of around 939 trillion kilograms.

The impact of asteroid Apophis, which is about 340 meters in diameter, would create a crater up to 5-6 kilometers in diameter if it were to hit Earth. The exact size would depend on various factors such as the asteroid's density, speed, and angle of impact.

It is the asteroid that hit the Earth 65 million years ago and contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

It impact crater is located in Chicxulub which is in the Yucatan peninsula, it is buried deep underground.

KT refers to the geological transition between the Cretaceous and the Tertiary periods. (Cretaceous in German starts with a K)

Current thinking is that the Asteroid Belt never constituted a single terrestrial body in the past; for whatever reason, there was not enough mass in the Belt for the matter there to accrete into a single body, as happened in the case of Earth or Mars, e.g.

The area of the crater can be calculated using the formula for the area of a circle: A = πr^2, where r is the radius. Given a radius of 85 km, the area of the crater would be approximately 22,665 square kilometers.

There is currently no known imminent threat of a significant meteorite or asteroid impact on Earth. Efforts are being made by scientists and space agencies to monitor and study near-Earth objects to prevent any potential collisions in the future.

A rock from space that hits Earth is called a meteorite. When it enters the Earth's atmosphere, it is known as a meteor or shooting star.

Yes, asteroids can be rough and irregular with many craters and boulders on their surface. Their surfaces are often described as "bumpy" due to the uneven distribution of material and the impacts they have endured over time.

Vesta - formally known as 4 Vesta.

It is an asteroid in the asteroid belt and was thought to be part of a protoplanet. (although the existence of any sort of planet existing, is under debate). It is the second largest object in the asteroid belt, after Ceres the dwarf planet [See related link].

Most of the asteroids in our Solar system are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is referred to as the Asteroid belt. They are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

Reflecting telescopes use mirrors to collect and focus light, while refracting telescopes use lenses. Reflecting telescopes are typically less affected by chromatic aberration, while refracting telescopes can be more prone to this issue. Reflecting telescopes are generally more cost-effective for larger apertures.

The asteroid belt mostly consists of a variety of rocky and metallic objects, rather than atmospheres like those found on planets. Any gases present tend to be in very low quantities, with studies suggesting the presence of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases.

Most of the asteroids within our solar system can be found within the Asteroid Belt. Located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the Asteroid Belt consists of millions of individual asteroids of varying sizes - from a speck of dust to hundreds of kilometers in diameter. The largest object within the belt is a dwarf planet - Ceres - which has a mass of 9.47x1020kg and a diameter of 476.2km.

Yes, there is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter called the Main Asteroid Belt. It is not located between Jupiter and Saturn.

The first president to have an asteroid named after him was George Washington. The asteroid "318" was named after him in 1890.

Asteroids are made mostly of rock and metal, and are remnants from the early solar system. Comets are made of ice, dust and rocky material, and originate in the outer regions of the solar system. These differences in composition are due to the location in which they formed and the processes they underwent during the formation of the solar system.