<p>Many models shown in books or television show a very populated asteroid belt but in fact the belt is mostly empty. </p>

<p>To answer your question, the inclination of the asteroids vary a lot going from 0° to 40° although most off them are in between 0° and 30°; See <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7253/fig_tab/nature08094_F1.html">The orbital element distributions of real and modelled asteroids</a>. So yes it would be 3 dimensional.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-24T11:18:31.497Z
2014-01-24T13:14:02.893Z
2014-01-24T13:14:02.893Z
Anthony Lethuillier
<p>Is the cluster of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter two dimensional as seen in every model of solar system shown in books or television? Or is it three dimensional as i think it should be?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-24T15:52:09.403Z
I also discuss this in my answer to [How do spacecraft navigate through the Asteroid belt to avoid collision?](http://space.stackexchange.com/a/3203/49) on [space.se], if you're interested. For statistical purposes, it would probably be easiest defined as a toroid, not a disc. ;)
TildalWave
<solar-system><asteroids><jupiter><mars>
Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter
Devgeet Patel
# Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-24)

Is the cluster of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter two dimensional as seen in every model of solar system shown in books or television? Or is it three dimensional as i think it should be?

**Tags:** solar-system, asteroids, jupiter, mars

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I also discuss this in my answer to [How do spacecraft navigate through the Asteroid belt to avoid collision?](http://space.stackexchange.com/a/3203/49) on [space.se], if you're interested. For statistical purposes, it would probably be easiest defined as a toroid, not a disc. ;)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-01-24. Score: 12

Many models shown in books or television show a very populated asteroid belt but in fact the belt is mostly empty.

To answer your question, the inclination of the asteroids vary a lot going from 0° to 40° although most off them are in between 0° and 30°; See [The orbital element distributions of real and modelled asteroids](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7253/fig_tab/nature08094_F1.html). So yes it would be 3 dimensional.


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