• Question: How big is the biggest asteroid belt in the Milky way and where about in space is it?

    Asked by Befney to Julian, Jane, Hugh, Helen, Heather on 14 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by kaitlyno.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      The only significant asteroid belt we know of is between Mars and Jupiter, although there are also asteroids between some of the other planets, and even close to Earth.

      The biggest asteroid is Ceres, which is actually been designated a dwarf planet now. It is close to 1000 km across.

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      No idea where the biggest asteroid belt in the Milky Way is! As Julian says, the main asteroid belt in our solar system is between Mars and Jupiter – these are the Trojan asteroids. There are also some between Saturn and Uranus – the Centaurs. Scientists have found many large asteroids and keep an eye on their orbits in case any come close to Earth. However there are lots of smaller ones we don’t know about yet, and asteroids which are in the direction of the Sun, making them more difficult to see.

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