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(Astronomy) Question about the Asteroid Belt.
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by i_want_to_flirt_with_drunk_sango
on 2006-06-22 18:06:16 (edited 2006-06-22 18:09:39)
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| When I was a child I LOVED astronomy and one thing that used to fascinate me was the Asteroid Belt. "What is it there for?", I'd always ask my self. There are many theories, and I always accepted the notion it was a planet destroyed that was held in place by the Sun's gravity as the Belt (but that problaby was just because it was the most exciting theory!). Of course, that was like more than ten years ago, and I'm sure things have changed. Does anyone know if they've decided on what created it? Does anyone have any theories with the facts to back it up? |
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Re: (Astronomy) Question about the Asteroid Belt.
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by
on 2006-06-23 13:22:56 |
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Strictly speaking, all objects in space are either stars, or came from stars. All the energy (and therefore matter) in the universe was created at the time of the big bang. As the universe expanded and cooled, the particles which make up matter (protons, neutrons, and electrons) became stable. Due to the contracting force of gravity, these particles tend to clump together in the vast reaches of space, eventually forming stars. Inside a star, fusion (heavy atom generation) takes place, rleasing a lot of energy in the form of light and heat. The resulting heavy atoms are thrown out into space while the star burns, or if/when it goes nova/supernova. It is from this "star dust" that all things are made, including asteroids, planets, and pretty little kitties with button noses. The fact that some junk floating in space formed the planets and some is left as debree in the asteroid belt is a matter of coincidence (pardon the pun!). There may be some solar system out there in some distant galaxy that is made entirely of debree smaller than a car, or all the matter is sucked up by one of two binary stars. Thats the awesome thing about the universe, so many possibilities! 
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Re: (Astronomy) Question about the Asteroid Belt.
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| another theory. when our solar system was made it was cooling. so big rocks keep on collide and stuck into each other becauz temp. was very high. jubiter attraction attract a lot of rocks ans they keep on cooling with the planet being forming in the astreoid belt. thus causing it to not unite and became a planet. as temp. cools unification becames more difficult and rocks became astreoid belt. they,re many theories. comine them u may get a good ans. |
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Re: (Astronomy) Question about the Asteroid Belt.
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Thats not really another theory, it doesn't contradict the first one.
10 more years!
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Re: (Astronomy) Question about the Asteroid Belt.
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calling the asteroid belt a "belt" is a bit optimistic. it makes it sound as if it's a continuous band of dust and gas orbiting the sun a la the rings of saturn. any dust and gas has long been swept up by jupiter and what's left behind is pretty rarified - a somewhat greater than average number of rocks orbiting the sun than is seen elsewhere in the solar system. as to why no planet formed there, jupiter is probaby the answer. everything in the asteroid belt eventually comes within 3 astronomical units (about 280 million miles) of jupiter. close enough that jupiter's gravitational pull generally overwhelms the mutual attraction between the asteroids. compare that to saturn and mars, whose closest approach to jupiter is 4.3 and 3.7 astronomical units respectively. saturn is large enough, far enough, and approached jupiter infrequently enough to have gathered its material wihtout interference. mars is far enough from jupiter also to have formed without interference and is only a rocky worldlet anyway. |
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Re: (Astronomy) Question about the Asteroid Belt.
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by
on 2006-12-01 00:19:13 |
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i don't know, asteroid belt looks pretty distinct to me. its got fuzzy edges but is well-defined between mars and jupiter.
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