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This list includes few examples since there are about 589 asteroids in the asteroid belt with a measured radius between 20 and 49 km. [171] Many thousands of objects of this size range have yet to be discovered in the trans-Neptunian region.
Ceres is the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt. [16] It has been classified as a C‑type or carbonaceous asteroid [16] and, due to the presence of clay minerals, as a G-type asteroid. [60] It has a similar, but not identical, composition to that of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. [61]
By far the largest object within the belt is the dwarf planet Ceres. The total mass of the asteroid belt is significantly less than Pluto's, and roughly twice that of Pluto's moon Charon. The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter ...
First likely dwarf planet visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft 4 Vesta: 525.4: March 29, 1807: Dawn: 2011–2012: 210: 0.76: Dawn broke orbit on 5 September 2012 and headed to Ceres, where it arrived in March 2015: First "big four" asteroid visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the ...
Dwarf planets, other than Ceres, are plutoids that have elliptical orbits: [25] [26] [27] Ceres, 2.8 AU in the asteroid belt; Orcus 39.4 AU, Trans-Neptunian-Kuiper belt object; Pluto 39 AU, Kuiper belt (a planet until 2006) Haumea 43 AU, Kuiper belt; Makemake 45.8 AU, Kuiper belt; Eris 95.6 AU, Kuiper belt; Gonggong Scattered disc object, 34 to ...
Occator / ɒ ˈ k eɪ t ər / is an impact crater located on Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, that contains "Spot 5", the brightest of the bright spots observed by the Dawn spacecraft. It was known as "Region A" in ground-based images taken by the W. M. Keck Observatory on ...
The four largest asteroids constitute half the mass of the asteroid belt. Ceres is the only asteroid that appears to have a plastic shape under its own gravity and hence the only one that is a dwarf planet. [74] It has a much higher absolute magnitude than the other asteroids, of around 3.32, [75] and may possess a surface layer of ice. [76]
The asteroid belt is very sparsely populated; spacecraft routinely pass through without incident. [144] The four largest asteroids: Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, Hygiea. Only Ceres and Vesta have been visited by a spacecraft and thus have a detailed picture. Below are the descriptions of the three largest bodies in the asteroid belt.