Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Planetary science

Archaeology of the asteroid belt

Nature volume 460, pages 963–964 (2009)Cite this article

The size of asteroids in the Solar System's main asteroid belt may help constrain one of the least-understood aspects of planet formation — the transition from pebble-sized dust balls to mountain-sized planetesimals.

As residents of our own planet Earth, we can all take an interest in how planets are born. The discovery of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, and the rich variety of worlds that have come to light over the past two decades, make this question even more fascinating. Unfortunately, our understanding of how planets form is frustratingly incomplete, not least because it is extremely difficult to observe this process in action. Writing in Icarus, Morbidelli et al.1 shed light on the matter by showing that the early stages of planet formation in the Solar System have left a permanent imprint on the size distribution of objects in the main asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Evolutionary stages of the main asteroid belt.

References

  1. Morbidelli, A., Bottke, W. F., Nesvorný, D. & Levison, H. F. Icarus doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2009.07.011 (2009). | Article |

  2. Blum, J. & Wurm, G. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 46, 21–56 (2008).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Weidenschilling, S. J. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 180, 57–70 (1977).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Brauer, F., Dullemond, C. P. & Henning, T. Astron. Astrophys. 480, 859–877 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Johansen, A. et al. Nature 448, 1022–1025 (2007).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Cuzzi, J. N. et al. Astrophys. J. 687, 1432–1447 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Petit, J.-M., Morbidelli, A. & Chambers, J. Icarus 153, 338–347 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bottke, W. F. Jr et al. Icarus 175, 111–140 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. John Chambers is in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution for Science, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA. chambers@dtm.ciw.edu,

    John Chambers

Authors
  1. John Chambers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chambers, J. Archaeology of the asteroid belt. Nature 460, 963–964 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/460963a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/460963a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing