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13 - Formation of Main Belt Asteroids

from Part III - Implications for the Formation and Evolution of the Solar System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

By
Hubert Klahr ,
Marco Delbo  and
Konstantin Gerbig
Edited by
Simone Marchi ,
Carol A. Raymond  and
Christopher T. Russell
Simone Marchi
Affiliation:
Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
Carol A. Raymond
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
Christopher T. Russell
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

From the viewpoint of planet formation in the Solar System, Main Belt asteroids are the remnants of the so-called planetesimal population, the building bricks of planets that formed ubiquitously all over the Solar Nebula. Over the last years evidence has grown that planetesimals formed big from the gravitational collapse of a local accumulation of mm–cm sized so-called pebbles, rather than small, as models of collisional coagulation would suggest. The precise size distribution of original planetesimals remains a central question in planetology. An asteroid (and other small bodies) could be a fragment of a larger parent body or it could be an original planetesimal. Here, we outline observational and theoretical constraints on the formation of MBAs. We discuss the current state of research on the size–frequency distribution, the ages of asteroids, and the implications on the formation of asteroids. We review planetesimal formation theory, specifically focusing on the initial sizes of primordial planetesimals.

Keywords

MBA-formationPlanet-formationPlanetesimalsPebblesGravitational collapseSolar Nebula, Size–frequency distributionAges of asteroids
Type
Chapter
Information
Vesta and Ceres
Insights from the Dawn Mission for the Origin of the Solar System
 , pp. 199 - 211
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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