1. The asteroid belt is located between the inner and the outer planets and is home to thousands of rocks and debris known as asteroids and some of the dwarf planets. All of these orbit the Sun.
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2. Some asteroids do orbit in space near to Earth and some are forced out of the asteroid belt by gravity and sent towards the outer solar system instead.
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3. There are hundreds of thousands of asteroids in the asteroid belt, but almost half of the entire mass is made up of just four objects. These objects are the dwarf planet Ceres, and three other asteroids called Vesta, Pallas and Hygiea.
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4. Of the many thousands of asteroids in the asteroid belt, Ceres is the only one large enough to be classified as a “dwarf planet”. Apart from these four objects, the remaining objects in the asteroid belt range in size from small rocks right down to dust particles.
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