Question

The asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter were once a planet. O True False

Answer 1

Answer:

False

Explanation:

In the vast majority of cases, the asteroid's orbit is between those of Mars and Jupiter, more precisely between 2 and 3.5 astronomical units, in what was called the asteroid belt.

The size of these objects varies between several hundred kilometers, for some rare specimens such as Ceres, and a value of the order of 10 meters (under this maximum limit we will talk about meteoroid). They are irregularly shaped bodies made up of rocks and metals like telluric planets.

The first hypothesis regarding the origin of the asteroids was the explosion of a planet located between Mars and Jupiter, of which these small bodies would be the residue. This idea has, however, been abandoned, because the total mass of the asteroids would allow to reconstruct only a very small planet, with a diameter just half that of the Moon.

Today planetologists think that asteroids are bodies that failed to agglomerate to form a planet because of Jupiter's influence.

An indication in favor of this theory is the presence of holes in the distribution of the asteroids belt orbits. Indeed, the orbits where the period of revolution would be equal to a simple fraction of that of Jupiter, for example, half or third, are empty.

Such a phenomenon can only occur if there is regular accumulation of an identical force over a very long period, therefore, if the period of the object and that of Jupiter are in a simple relationship, for example, half. It is this phenomenon, called resonance, that explains the holes in the current distribution of asteroid orbits.

It is the phenomenon of resonance probably responsible for the absence of a fifth telluric planet between Mars and Jupiter. Indeed, planets were formed 4.6 billion years ago by the agglomeration of dust in small bodies called planetesimals, which in turn regrouped to form massive bodies.