Is the asteroid belt a failed planet?

Could the asteroid belt be a destroyed planet?

Could the asteroid belt have been a large planet that was somehow destroyed? – Quora. Large? No. If you gathered up everything in the belt into a single ball, it would only be about a thousand miles across — slightly larger than Ceres, which would make up most of its mass.

Is there a planet in the asteroid belt?

Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it's the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system. It was the first member of the asteroid belt to be discovered when Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it in 1801. … Ceres is named for the Roman goddess of corn and harvests.

Can the asteroid belt support life?

Two researchers hypothesize that an asteroid belt, just the right size and distance from its star, might be necessary for a star system to support a life-bearing planet. This might sound surprising, since asteroids can occasionally impact Earth and trigger mass extinctions.

How big a planet would the asteroid belt make?

The entire mass of the asteroid belt would amount to a planet about 4% the mass of the moon.

Is it possible for a planet to explode?

Contrary to science fiction, planets are stable and causing one to explode would require some chemical or nuclear process which can provide an explosive punch of energy. For example, to detonate the Earth, a ball of uranium with a diameter of some three miles at the core would be required.

Can an asteroid destroy Jupiter?

They burn up in the Jovian atmosphere, and possibly explode. In any case, their material becomes permanently part of Jupiter. If an asteroid is made of very dense material, like iron, the destroyed asteroid will eventually sink into the inner layers of Jupiter.

Is there a 10th planet?

Because Eris appeared to be larger than Pluto, NASA initially described it as the Solar System's tenth planet….Eris (dwarf planet)

Can we colonize the asteroid belt?

Asteroids, including those in the asteroid belt have been suggested as a possible site of human colonization. … The process of colonizing asteroids does have many obstacles that must be overcome for human habitation, including transportation distance, lack of gravity, temperature, radiation, and psychological issues.