Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Where are most asteroids found in the solar system?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Small body
Asteroid Ida and its satellite, Dactyl, photographed by the Galileo spacecraft on August 28, 1993, from a distance of about 10,870 km (6,750 miles). Ida is about 56 km (35 miles) long and shows the irregular shape and impact craters characteristic of many asteroids. The Galileo image revealed that Ida is accompanied by a tiny companion about 1.5 km (1 mile) wide, the first proof that some asteroids have natural satellites.
The vast majority of asteroids in the solar system are found in the asteroid belt, a region of interplanetary space located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.123
Within this belt, most asteroids occupy orbits with mean distances from the Sun between 2.06 and 3.28 astronomical units. These objects are considered the leftover building blocks from the formation of the solar system's rocky planets. While the asteroid belt serves as the primary reservoir, asteroids are also found in other regions, such as the Hungaria group and various groups of Trojan asteroids that share orbits with major planets.425