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Re: An uncomplicated question
>My understanding is that the asteroid belt is material that never was able
>to coallesce into a planet, mainly due to the disruptions caused by
>Jupiter.
That is true.
>If memory serves, the total mass of the asteroid belt also
>wouldn't add up to enough to really call it a planet anyway (but this is
>one of those vaguely remembered interesting facts, so I may be wrong there).
>The name 'aster'oid is a historical vestige, since they appeared to be
>point sources, just like stars ('aster'=star).
Again, this is true. If you add up the masses of all of the
*known* asteroids in the main asteroid belt, you would get a body
no bigger than the size of the Moon. However, note that we haven't discovered
all of the bodies asteroids in the main belt yet, just the larger asteroids.
Also, a certain number of asteroids have been perturbed out of the
main belt, and have either impacted elsewhere in the solar system,
have been ejected out of the solar system, or are wandering somewhere else.
It would be interesting to see a study to see what the body size
would be if you've included *all* of the asteroids from the original
main belt population.
Ron Baalke