Can asteroid fields exist in local systems?
Can asteroid fields ever exist locally in a system, or do they tend to form belts exclusively?
And by asteroid field, I mean clusters of asteroids scattered around a planetary system.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/44040. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
I contend that the Trojan, Greek, and Hilda groups associated with Jupiter in our own solar system constitute "fields" as opposed to "belts." The Hildas are perhaps more scattered, but they do not fit the word "belt" as I assume you mean it. Certainly, the green and orange dots in this image seem far less belt-like than the white dots (the main asteroid belt) do:
image source: wikipedia
Each of these clusters is associated with one or more Lagrangian points of Jupiter, which more or less means these objects are locked in a gravitational dance with Jupiter, and orbit the sun in concert with Jupiter and each other.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/44041. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads