Asteroid belt
Cinturón de asteroides
- Date
- 1802-1807 · confidence high
- Place
- Bremen, Germany
- Credited to
- Heinrich Olbers (Pallas, Vesta); Karl Harding (Juno)
- People
- 👤 Heinrich Olbers1758–1840👤 Karl Ludwig Harding1765–1834
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The discovery of Pallas, Juno and Vesta after Ceres revealed a population of small bodies between Mars and Jupiter; Herschel coined the term 'asteroid'.
The fifth asteroid, Astraea, was not found until 1845.
What it led to
- Astronomy of minor bodies
- Theories of planetary formation
- Detection of near-Earth objects
Built on
Made possible
- Torino scale1999
- Tracking astrophotography