is the asteroid belt the ring of the sun?

Question

since all the rocks rotate around the sun like the ring of saturn.

Answer 1

Yes, that's right, like the ring of the sun.

Answer 2

I would say yes and no. Yes as the are small rocks (small relative to the size of Sol, the sun) revolving around the in every 3-10years depending on the distance from the sun. The asteroid belt has "gaps" like in the rings of gas giants.

The asteroid belt is not dense at all, in fact if a probe was launched it only has about 1/1,000,000,000 chance of colliding with an asteroid. The mass of the asteroid belt is only 4% the mass of the moon.

There is also a larger belt of rocks and ice called the Kuiper Belt which contains Pluto/ Charon. The mass of the belt is only about 1/10 the mass of Earth, also the belt is not dense at all even less dense than the asteroid belt.

If you go up into space for billions of miles above the north pole, likely you will not be able to see the belts at all as evidence in the photos of the solar system "Family Portrait" by Voyager.

Answer 3

In a way it is, but you need to know that planetary rings are formed (in current theories, at least) by moons or other bodies that got too close to the parent planet and were destroyed by intense tidal forces. The distance at which this happens for liquid bodies is called the Roche limit, but that only applies to liquid bodies-earth satellites are well within the Roche limit and they do not normally disintegrate.

In the case of the so-called asteroid belt (more about that later) it is thought that the proximity of the giant planet Jupiter prevented a planet from forming, but did not break one up. Again, obviously, the asteroid belt is well outside the Roche limit of the sun, or all planets inside the zone would be reduced to dust.

In form, however, the asteroid belt (if thick enough to see as a belt) would appear similar to the rings around Saturn. But, here is another thing: not all asteroids orbit within the area between Jupiter and Mars. Some travel quite elongated (that is, eccentric) orbits which take them inside the orbit of earth and outside that of Saturn. Indeed, some are 'trapped' in the same orbit as Jupiter and Saturn, several degrees ahead and behind those planets, and these are called Trojan asteroids (there is evidence the earth has them as well).

Answer 4

A "ring" around a body forms in a region where the gravitation of the central body prevents the formation of a compact, orbiting body. This outer limit is called the Roche radius, do a search for it and/or see its Wikipedia page. Thus, such a ring is formed only by dust. Any larger body entering this limit will be destroyed.

These being said, the "ring of the Sun" would be formed much closer than Mercury's orbit; at that distance, this dust would be blown away by the pressure of the solar radiation and by the solar wind.

The main asteroid belt is NOT the ring of the Sun:
1. Its components are MUCH larger than the dust forming such rings;
2. The asteroid belt lies MUCH farther than the limit for the ring; in fact, no less than 4 planets lie within this belt.

Answer 5

I see what you are getting at, but the scale is totally different. If Saturn's ring were to Saturn as the Asteroid belt is to the Sun, it would not be visible right near the planet like it is. Rather, it would be a tiny thread of a thing with a radius equal to hundreds of times the radius of Saturn.

Answer 6

Exactly, you have a very good analogy.

But, there is a belt of objects out beyond the planet Uranus that are the same thing, they from a ring around the sun and Pluto is one of these Kiper Belt objects. With the Kiper Belt I can assume you can compare them to Jupiter's rings, which aren't easily seen and weren't known until we sent a spacecraft there.

Answer 7

No, it's merely caused by Sun's gravitational pull.

All planets orbit the Sun, so does that make the planets the ring of Sun?

Answer 8

No,the asteroid belt lies past the orbit of mars and is no where near the Sun

Answer 9

NO,it revolves around the sun between mars and jupiter

belived to be a planet that did not form


wow, their are some ignorant answers on this if you don't know you really shouldn't answer

Answer 10

No...its a ring that revolves around the sun....between Mars and Saturn.....