<Table> <Tr> <Td> Sun Jupiter trojans Orbits of planets </Td> <Td> Asteroid belt Hilda asteroids (Hildas) Near - Earth objects (selection) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> Sun Jupiter trojans Orbits of planets </Td> <Td> Asteroid belt Hilda asteroids (Hildas) Near - Earth objects (selection) </Td> </Tr> <P> The asteroid belt is the circumstellar disc in the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter . It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets . The asteroid belt is also termed the main asteroid belt or main belt to distinguish it from other asteroid populations in the Solar System such as near - Earth asteroids and trojan asteroids . About half the mass of the belt is contained in the four largest asteroids: Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea . The total mass of the asteroid belt is approximately 4% that of the Moon, or 22% that of Pluto, and roughly twice that of Pluto's moon Charon (whose diameter is 1200 km). </P> <P> Ceres, the asteroid belt's only dwarf planet, is about 950 km in diameter, whereas 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, and 10 Hygiea have mean diameters of less than 600 km . The remaining bodies range down to the size of a dust particle . The asteroid material is so thinly distributed that numerous unmanned spacecraft have traversed it without incident . Nonetheless, collisions between large asteroids do occur, and these can produce an asteroid family whose members have similar orbital characteristics and compositions . Individual asteroids within the asteroid belt are categorized by their spectra, with most falling into three basic groups: carbonaceous (C - type), silicate (S - type), and metal - rich (M - type). </P>

A group of objects orbiting between mars and jupiter