BIG NUMBERS · Which has more objects - the Kuiper Belt or the Asteroid Belt?

Asteroid Belt

This area between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter contains mostly rocks and rock lumps loaded with iron and nickel that are the remains of planetary formation. As of 2019, scientists had identified 796,971 objects in the belt.

796,971 objects exist in the belt. Their total mass equals 4% of the Moon.

125

times more objects are estimated to lie in the Kuiper Belt than have been identified within the Asteroid Belt.

Kuiper Belt

This stretches from Neptune towards interstellar space and contains mainly ice lumps left from the formation of the Solar System's outer planets. Astronomers estimate that 100+ million objects exist in the Kuiper Belt.

100 million objects exist in the belt.

200 times the mass of the Asteroid Belt.