Jupiter divides the Asteroid Belt into bands

Jupiter created the Asteroid Belt, and it is still affecting it today. The Solar System’s largest planet causes resonances in specific regions of the belt, making the asteroids organise themselves in smaller belts with gaps in between them.

The horizontal axis indicates the width of the Asteroid Belt in astronomical units (AU). 1 AU corresponds to the distance between the Sun and Earth. The belt measures 1.2 AU or 180 billion km.