asteroid belt

noun

|Updated on: 9 Jun 2018

Definition of asteroid belt

: the region of interplanetary space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in which most asteroids are found

Recent Examples of asteroid belt from the Web

For 48-year-old Lenzi and those in the older generation, the picture was more than just a rocket hurtling toward the asteroid belt.

— trisha thadani, San Francisco Chronicle, "Falcon Heavy launch rekindles space thrills in a nostalgic step for humankind," 12 Feb. 2018
Musk tweeted a map of the project path Tuesday after the successful Falcon Heavy launch, showing the car moving past Mars’ orbit and toward the asteroid belt.

— lisa marie segarra, Fortune, "Elon Musk Said His Tesla Would Reach the Asteroid Belt. Astronomers Say He’s Wrong," 8 Feb. 2018
An artist rendering of an asteroid belt around Vega, a distant star in our Milky Way galaxy.

— nina burleigh, Newsweek, "We Can Save Ourselves From Earth-Killing Asteroids, But Someone Has to Pay," 11 June 2015
The massive object within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter had traveled behind the sun, but astronomers hadn’t had a chance to calculate its orbit.

— brian resnick, Vox, "How Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss rediscovered a lost dwarf planet," 30 Apr. 2018
That's nothing compared to asteroids that make up the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which can measure to about 580 miles across, NASA explains on its website.

— jennifer earl, Fox News, "Asteroid the size of a football field makes 'surprise' flyby past Earth," 16 Apr. 2018
For important missions Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, the first craft to fly-by Jupiter and the asteroid belt, only 30 to 59 percent of the data was archived.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "These Rare NASA Photos Were Saved From the Trash," 11 Apr. 2018
But the second stage apparently fired longer than expected, boosting the Roadster into a solar orbit with a high point in the asteroid belt well beyond Mars.

— william harwood, CBS News, "SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch puts on spectacular show in maiden flight," 6 Feb. 2018
Today, our solar system's asteroids reside between Mars and Jupiter, in a dense region that's known as the asteroid belt.

— National Geographic, "How Do Asteroids Create Life?," 2 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'asteroid belt.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.