<p>From Wikipedia:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt#Formation">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt#Formation</a></p>

<p>Planetesimals within the region which would become the asteroid belt were too strongly perturbed by Jupiter's gravity to form a planet. Instead they continued to orbit the Sun as before, and occasionally colliding.[27] In regions where the average velocity of the collisions was too high, the shattering of planetesimals tended to dominate over accretion,[28] preventing the formation of planet-sized bodies. Orbital resonances occurred where the orbital period of an object in the belt formed an integer fraction of the orbital period of Jupiter, perturbing the object into a different orbit; the region lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter contains many such orbital resonances. As Jupiter migrated inward following its formation, these resonances would have swept across the asteroid belt, dynamically exciting the region's population and increasing their velocities relative to each other.[29]</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-18T00:36:44.310Z
If, that's true, then how did the inner planets form in the wake of the sun's gravity. I believe all four lie closer to the sun than the outer edge of the asteroids is close to Jupiter. ?
Brian
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-18T05:20:36.073Z
Orbiting the sun is different.   The sun's gravity helps stabilize orbiting material around it.   Jupiter destabilizes material that orbits around the sun but passes too close to Jupiter.  

(Also, yours is more of a comment than an answer).
userLTK
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-27T14:10:43.080Z
2013-11-27T14:10:43.080Z
Envite
<p>If gravitation (attraction of mass) is the cause of the formation of all celestial bodies then how come the numerous small bodies found in asteroid belts spread over an orbit <strong>instead</strong> of clustering together ?!</p>

<planetary-formation><asteroid-belt>
Why haven't asteroid belts turned into new large bodies?
WaterBearer
# Why haven't asteroid belts turned into new large bodies?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-11-27)

If gravitation (attraction of mass) is the cause of the formation of all celestial bodies then how come the numerous small bodies found in asteroid belts spread over an orbit **instead** of clustering together ?!

**Tags:** planetary-formation, asteroid-belt


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-11-27. Score: 5

From Wikipedia:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt#Formation>

Planetesimals within the region which would become the asteroid belt were too strongly perturbed by Jupiter's gravity to form a planet. Instead they continued to orbit the Sun as before, and occasionally colliding.[27] In regions where the average velocity of the collisions was too high, the shattering of planetesimals tended to dominate over accretion,[28] preventing the formation of planet-sized bodies. Orbital resonances occurred where the orbital period of an object in the belt formed an integer fraction of the orbital period of Jupiter, perturbing the object into a different orbit; the region lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter contains many such orbital resonances. As Jupiter migrated inward following its formation, these resonances would have swept across the asteroid belt, dynamically exciting the region's population and increasing their velocities relative to each other.[29]

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: If, that's true, then how did the inner planets form in the wake of the sun's gravity. I believe all four lie closer to the sun than the outer edge of the asteroids is close to Jupiter. ?  
> **username_3**: Orbiting the sun is different.   The sun's gravity helps stabilize orbiting material around it.   Jupiter destabilizes material that orbits around the sun but passes too close to Jupiter.    (Also, yours is more of a comment than an answer).  

---

