Kirkwood gap

Kirkwood gaps

Kirkwood gaps are areas of the asteroid belt where asteroids are unusually scarce, as seen in the graph on the right. They are caused by orbital resonances with Jupiter.

The gaps were first noticed in 1857 by Daniel Kirkwood, who also correctly explained their origin in the orbital resonances with Jupiter while a professor at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

Kirkwood Gap Media

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  Histogram showing the four most prominent Kirkwood gaps and a possible division into inner, middle and outer main-belt asteroids:      inner main-belt (a < 2.5 AU)      intermediate main-belt (2.5 AU < a < 2.82 AU)      outer main-belt (a > 2.82 AU)

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  A plot of inner solar system asteroids and planets as of 2006 May 9, in a manner that exposes the Kirkwood gaps. Similar to the position plot, planets (with trajectories) are orange, Jupiter being the outer most in this view.

Other websites

• Article on Kirkwood gaps at Wolfram's scienceworld
• A method to create a short-term simulation Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine.