27 April 2016
Dwarf planet MakeMake found to have a moon
... the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the sun. The belt is similar to the asteroid belt found between Mars and Jupiter, but it believed to contain many comets, asteroids, and other small bodies made largely of ice. Indeed both...
March 2015
Dawn of ion propulsion
...to help fling the spacecraft on to the more distant main asteroid belt. By its fourth anniversary it had arrived at the giant ... is the only spacecraft ever to orbit a resident of the asteroid belt. It is also the only ship ever targeted to orbit two...
18 May 2016
Multi-planet system hints at extra planet in its cometary belt
... first high-resolution image of a cometary belt around HR 8799, a young main-sequence... Spitzer Space Telescope imply that the disc consists of an inner asteroid belt analogue, a planetesimal belt between 100 and 310 AU and a blowout grain halo going...
September 2019
A new era in planetary defence missions
... performing GNC duties, Dawn’s AFC distinguished itself by returning remarkable images of Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, and its mysterious bright spots as well as gathering valuable spectral data. Now its sister camera on Hera...
October 2020
Space 2069 - back to the Moon, to Mars and beyond
... solar system beyond. Then, in the century after the Apollo centenary we could imagine a voyage into the asteroid belt, perhaps overseeing the artificial intelligence swarms that roamed among these rocky bodies. But we could go no further...
13 December 2017
Bright spots suggest Ceres is surprisingly active
... Earth (and not merely visit or flyby) and the only craft to orbit an object in the debris-strewn asteroid belt. Ceres is a world of both rock and ice. With a dark, rigid protective crust, a less rigid interior, and...
