<p><strong>tl;dr:</strong> The key part the question is the phrase</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...from the asteroid belt...</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There are lots of asteroids and only some of them are considered to be in "the asteroid belt" or to be <em>main-belt asteroids</em>. As @zephyr's <a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/19973/7982">answer</a> to the question <em>Do astronomers generally agree that the distinction between comets and astroids is not so clear?</em> points out, even the definition of what is or isn't an asteroid is under debate and review. To the question of which is the farthest a main belt asteroid can get from the Sun, <em>the answer depends on exactly how you draw your line.</em></p>

<p>There are also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt#Families_and_groups" rel="nofollow noreferrer">families and groups</a> of asteroids, and while these have visually clear clumps and clusters when plotted in certain ways, they may not have absolute universally accepted definitions of who's in and who's out.</p>

<p>See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AsteroidIncAu.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asteroid_osculating_vs_proper_elements.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> for some families within the main belt.</p>

<hr>

<p>While the OP"s <a href="https://space-facts.com/asteroid-belt/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">link</a> says</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Asteroid Belt is located in an area of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. That places it between 2.2 and 3.2 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. The belt is about 1 AU thick. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>that wording seems awkward since "between the orbits of between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter" only really puts it between 1.4 and 5.5 AU.</p>

<p>The first sentence of Wikipedia's Asteroid belt says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The asteroid belt is the circumstellar disc in the Solar System <strong>located roughly</strong> between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter</p>
</blockquote>

<p>repeat, "<strong>roughly</strong>" and it goes on to say</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>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.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The article also includes the figure shown below, showing that there are plenty of other groups of asteroids besides those designated as "main belt". I am not sure if there is a 100% absolutely IAU-official definition that you can apply to any set of orbital parameters that will return Yes or No to the question "is this one <em>main belt?</em>" but in general it looks like asteroids with a semimajor axis beyond 3.3 AU, or a high eccentricity, or a high inclination would not be called "main belt" by most astronomers.</p>

<p>As @PM2Ring points out <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkwood_gap" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kirkwood Gaps</a> delineate statistical sub-groupings of the main belt.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>A Kirkwood gap is a gap or dip in the distribution of the semi-major axes (or equivalently of the orbital periods) of the orbits of main-belt asteroids. They correspond to the locations of orbital resonances with Jupiter.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You can see that while there is a minimum around 3.3 AU due to the 2:1 resonance, there are "green" stragglers extending to the right that continue on past the arbitrary 3.5 AU edge of this plot of "main belt asteroids".</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/x1GKu.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/x1GKu.png" alt="Kirkwood Gaps"></a></p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kirkwood_Gaps.svg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source</a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/oGrWw.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/oGrWw.png" alt="Kirkwood Gaps"></a></p>

<p><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Main_belt_i_vs_a.png/983px-Main_belt_i_vs_a.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source</a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/0Tma9.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/0Tma9.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Screen shot from Scott Manley's video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdb-DPjHEuw" rel="nofollow noreferrer">What Rock Star Brian May Discovered About Interplanetary Dust</a></p>

<p>which gives a better idea that there are groups and stragglers than the image in the OP's link:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/PeQQH.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/PeQQH.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><a href="https://space-facts.com/asteroid-belt/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-19T23:39:58.263Z
If I'm wrong and the IAU has a specific test on what is or is not "main belt" please let me know!
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T00:48:19.327Z
Annoyingly, Wikipedia doesn't fully explain the colours in that graph. Red is main belt, blue is others, but what are the grey ones around 5.2 AU? Also see the [Kirkwood gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkwood_gap) diagram.
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T00:55:20.037Z
@PM2Ring Thanks! I've added something about that, please feel free to edit, clarify, correct, etc.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T06:36:28.377Z
On the first chart, Wikipedia doesn't describe them well, but the blues in the top chart would be the Alindas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alinda_asteroid and others (Green color I think), the Hecubas, followed by the Cybels, Hildas (4.0 AU 3:2 orbital ratio), Thules (4:3 orbital ratio, less common) and of course the Trojans.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecuba-gap_asteroid  Wikipedia's definitions aren't well written and they don't appear to offer a name for the orange.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T06:49:18.603Z
On the 2nd chart, the greys at 5.2 AU are the trojans.   The 4.0 collection of blues are the Hildas.   The blues above the reds that have main asteroid belt distances are distinguished by higher inclination, pushing them outside the main belt.    As a sidebar, one of the odd things about the Kirkwood gaps is that the 3:2 ratio collects asteroids while the other higher ratios repel them.  There was a question about that specifically, which I remember answering (kinda/sorta), but I can't find it now.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T06:51:46.020Z
@userLTK could it be [this one](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/27502/7982)?
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T07:11:21.967Z
@uhoh  Nice find.  The 3 points of the Hilda triangle line up to L3, L4 and L5, so I think that explains the stability.   Obviously asteroids don't orbit in a triangle, as that would be silly.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T07:42:38.710Z
@userLTK oh I see what you mean; in the rotating (synodic) frame the elliptical orbits do *look like* they are moving in a triangular orbit, something *a little bit like* I might have made with my spirograph set a half-century ago ;-)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-19T23:34:39.527Z
2019-02-24T07:50:25.060Z
2019-02-24T07:50:25.060Z
uhoh
<p>According to</p>

<p><a href="https://space-facts.com/asteroid-belt/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Space facts</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Asteroid Belt is located in an area of space between the orbits of
  Mars and Jupiter. That places it between 2.2 and 3.2 astronomical
  units (AU) from the Sun</p>
</blockquote>

<p>But asteroids from the asteroid Velt like Pallas and Hygiea have an aphelion of
3.4119 AU and 3.5024 AU respectively. So my question is, which is the farthest distance a particular distant known-identified object from the asteroid belt can get from the sun?</p>

<p>Updated since the question might seem unclear. I'm asking for a currently known object from the asteroid belt which gets closer to Jupiter.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-19T17:48:56.573Z
But I mean any known object between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Not a theoretical object (since I understand there are millions)
Pablo
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-19T17:53:04.823Z
Updated the title of the question
Pablo
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-19T19:00:06.160Z
By definition anything inside the orbit of Jupiter (and thus not directly orbiting Jupiter) is in the asteroid belt.   I think your question is still incorrectly worded.  Perhaps you mean "what's the most distant identified object in the asteroid belt" ?
Carl Witthoft
<asteroid-belt>
Which is the farthest distance a particular distant known- identified object from the asteroid belt can get from the sun?
Pablo
# Which is the farthest distance a particular distant known- identified object from the asteroid belt can get from the sun?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-02-19)

According to

[Space facts](https://space-facts.com/asteroid-belt/)

> The Asteroid Belt is located in an area of space between the orbits of
> Mars and Jupiter. That places it between 2.2 and 3.2 astronomical
> units (AU) from the Sun

But asteroids from the asteroid Velt like Pallas and Hygiea have an aphelion of
3.4119 AU and 3.5024 AU respectively. So my question is, which is the farthest distance a particular distant known-identified object from the asteroid belt can get from the sun?

Updated since the question might seem unclear. I'm asking for a currently known object from the asteroid belt which gets closer to Jupiter.

**Tags:** asteroid-belt
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: But I mean any known object between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Not a theoretical object (since I understand there are millions)  
> **username_0**: Updated the title of the question  
> **username_1**: By definition anything inside the orbit of Jupiter (and thus not directly orbiting Jupiter) is in the asteroid belt.   I think your question is still incorrectly worded.  Perhaps you mean "what's the most distant identified object in the asteroid belt" ?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-02-19. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

**tl;dr:** The key part the question is the phrase

> ...from the asteroid belt...

There are lots of asteroids and only some of them are considered to be in "the asteroid belt" or to be *main-belt asteroids*. As @zephyr's [answer](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/19973/7982) to the question *Do astronomers generally agree that the distinction between comets and astroids is not so clear?* points out, even the definition of what is or isn't an asteroid is under debate and review. To the question of which is the farthest a main belt asteroid can get from the Sun, *the answer depends on exactly how you draw your line.*

There are also [families and groups](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt#Families_and_groups) of asteroids, and while these have visually clear clumps and clusters when plotted in certain ways, they may not have absolute universally accepted definitions of who's in and who's out.

See [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AsteroidIncAu.png) and [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asteroid_osculating_vs_proper_elements.png) for some families within the main belt.

---

While the OP"s [link](https://space-facts.com/asteroid-belt/) says

> The Asteroid Belt is located in an area of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. That places it between 2.2 and 3.2 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. The belt is about 1 AU thick.

that wording seems awkward since "between the orbits of between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter" only really puts it between 1.4 and 5.5 AU.

The first sentence of Wikipedia's Asteroid belt says:

> The asteroid belt is the circumstellar disc in the Solar System **located roughly** between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter

repeat, "**roughly**" and it goes on to say

> 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.

The article also includes the figure shown below, showing that there are plenty of other groups of asteroids besides those designated as "main belt". I am not sure if there is a 100% absolutely IAU-official definition that you can apply to any set of orbital parameters that will return Yes or No to the question "is this one *main belt?*" but in general it looks like asteroids with a semimajor axis beyond 3.3 AU, or a high eccentricity, or a high inclination would not be called "main belt" by most astronomers.

As @PM2Ring points out [Kirkwood Gaps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkwood_gap) delineate statistical sub-groupings of the main belt.

> A Kirkwood gap is a gap or dip in the distribution of the semi-major axes (or equivalently of the orbital periods) of the orbits of main-belt asteroids. They correspond to the locations of orbital resonances with Jupiter.

You can see that while there is a minimum around 3.3 AU due to the 2:1 resonance, there are "green" stragglers extending to the right that continue on past the arbitrary 3.5 AU edge of this plot of "main belt asteroids".

[![Kirkwood Gaps](https://i.sstatic.net/x1GKu.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/x1GKu.png)

[Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kirkwood_Gaps.svg)

[![Kirkwood Gaps](https://i.sstatic.net/oGrWw.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/oGrWw.png)

[Source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Main_belt_i_vs_a.png/983px-Main_belt_i_vs_a.png)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/0Tma9.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/0Tma9.jpg)

Screen shot from Scott Manley's video [What Rock Star Brian May Discovered About Interplanetary Dust](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdb-DPjHEuw)

which gives a better idea that there are groups and stragglers than the image in the OP's link:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/PeQQH.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/PeQQH.png)

[Source](https://space-facts.com/asteroid-belt/)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: If I'm wrong and the IAU has a specific test on what is or is not "main belt" please let me know!  
> **username_3**: Annoyingly, Wikipedia doesn't fully explain the colours in that graph. Red is main belt, blue is others, but what are the grey ones around 5.2 AU? Also see the [Kirkwood gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkwood_gap) diagram.  
> **username_2**: @PM2Ring Thanks! I've added something about that, please feel free to edit, clarify, correct, etc.  
> **username_4**: On the first chart, Wikipedia doesn't describe them well, but the blues in the top chart would be the Alindas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alinda_asteroid and others (Green color I think), the Hecubas, followed by the Cybels, Hildas (4.0 AU 3:2 orbital ratio), Thules (4:3 orbital ratio, less common) and of course the Trojans.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecuba-gap_asteroid  Wikipedia's definitions aren't well written and they don't appear to offer a name for the orange.  
> **username_4**: On the 2nd chart, the greys at 5.2 AU are the trojans.   The 4.0 collection of blues are the Hildas.   The blues above the reds that have main asteroid belt distances are distinguished by higher inclination, pushing them outside the main belt.    As a sidebar, one of the odd things about the Kirkwood gaps is that the 3:2 ratio collects asteroids while the other higher ratios repel them.  There was a question about that specifically, which I remember answering (kinda/sorta), but I can't find it now.  
> **username_2**: @userLTK could it be [this one](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/27502/7982)?  
> **username_4**: @uhoh  Nice find.  The 3 points of the Hilda triangle line up to L3, L4 and L5, so I think that explains the stability.   Obviously asteroids don't orbit in a triangle, as that would be silly.  
> **username_2**: @userLTK oh I see what you mean; in the rotating (synodic) frame the elliptical orbits do *look like* they are moving in a triangular orbit, something *a little bit like* I might have made with my spirograph set a half-century ago ;-)  

---

