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The Asteroid Belt: Is it the planet that never was? The space between Mars and Jupiter is filled with a population of irregularly shaped chunks of debris called asteroids. Objects in this asteroid belt are made of rock and metal, mostly nickel and iron. Scientists believe the asteroids are pieces of a planet that never formed. An ongoing gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter and Mars may have prevented the pieces from bonding together. Other asteroids are not part of this belt and some have paths which cross Earth's orbit.
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JPL Instruments and Data:
Near-Earth Object Program
Near-Earth Objects are comets and asteroids that have been
nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow
them to enter the Earth's neighborhood.
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Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT)
NEAT is a camera observing system on a ground-based telescope located on the rim of the Haleakala Crater in Maui, Hawaii. It tracks asteroids and comets that come near Earth's and Mars' orbit.
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Asteroid Radar Research
This is a somewhat technical site about radar's powerful role in gaining data about asteroid physical properties and orbits. It includes 3D images and moving models of asteroids.
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