Asteroid belt
An asteroid belt or asteroid field is a collection of asteroids that usually orbit a star in a roughly toroidal shape. Asteroids in such belts range from grain-sized to many kilometers in diameter. Asteroid fields contain space debris and are usually the remains of a planet's destruction.

Classification 
Around the late 23rd century, asteroid belts were quantified by their Shiller rating. In 2266, the   pursued an unregistered J class cargo vessel into an asteroid belt with a Shiller rating of three-five. ()

Asteroids in belts also have size and atmosphere type classifications. In 2267, shuttlecraft  for example entered an asteroid belt consisting of 7,000 bodies of sizes running from types A to N, thirty-four percent of which had atmospheres of types H to M. ()

Asteroid belt locations and incidents 
The maiden voyage of the  took the vessel through the  of the Terran system with a course beyond Pluto before returning to spacedock. They soon intercepted a distress call from the transport ship Lakul and moved to intercept. ()

Ty'Gokor was located in an asteroid field deep in the Klingon Empire. A tachyon detection grid monitored the region and helped protect it from direct assault. ()

During the Federation-Tzenkethi War, the  was attacked by three Tzenkethi raiders, which then fled into an asteroid belt. Captain Leyton took the Okinawa in after them, despite the protestations of Benjamin Sisko. ()

In 2366, the  searched the remains of Orelious IX, which was nothing more than an asteroid field. Within the asteroid field, they discovered an intact 14th century Promellian battle cruiser but also found an ancient booby trap that almost destroyed them. ()

In 2367, the Enterprise-D returned the space-dwelling lifeform known only as "" to an asteroid field near the Alpha Omicron system. ()

In 2370, the Enterprise-D entered the asteroid field in the Devolin system, under orders from Starfleet Command and Rear Admiral Erik Pressman, on a salvage mission to recover the remains of the . (; )

Major Kira Nerys, Doctor Julian Bashir, and Keiko O'Brien took the  into an asteroid field in the Gamma Quadrant in late 2372. They were almost clear when an asteroid hit their  Runabout, which destroyed a fuel pod. Kira and Bashir recalled the incident several weeks later. ()

In 2372, the  surveyed an asteroid field in the Delta Quadrant and discovered a new type of dilithium that remained stable at high warp frequencies. ()

The  conducted maneuvers in an asteroid belt in the Kar-telos system in 2372. ()

In 2373, before General Martok's captaincy of the starship, the  trapped a Cardassian vessel between itself and an asteroid field. Three Jem'Hadar warships came out of the asteroid field, forced the Rotarran to withdraw, and saved the Cardassians. ()

In 2374, a Species 8472 bio-ship fled into an asteroid belt while being pursued by a Hirogen ship. The Alpha Hirogen believed the pilot of the bio-ship was not attempting to hide but was instead preparing for a final stand. ()

Also in 2374, the Runabout  managed to avoid Dominion detection arrays while en route to Soukara by approaching the planet through an asteroid field. ()

In 2375, the USS Voyager located what  Tom Paris believed to be an asteroid cluster. Closer scrutiny revealed it was actually a Borg debris field. ()

In 2378 and before the USS Voyagers return to Earth, it dropped off Neelix in a resource-rich asteroid field. The field also contained an asteroid that was home to a distant Talaxian colony. Alien miners planned to harvest the ore of the Talaxians' asteroid, which would render it uninhabitable. By helping erect shield generators, Neelix prevented the bellicose miners from destroying the asteroid-colony and saved his fellow Talaxians. ()

See also 
List of asteroid belts
Kuiper belt
Oort cloud

External link 
 

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Celestial objects
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