Geology of solar terrestrial planets approaching Ceres at aphelion, which may constrain Dawn's ability to observe this phenomenon. Note: This info was taken directly from the main article, sources for the material are included there. Asteroids, comets, and meteoroids are all debris remaining from the nebula in which the Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago. The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. It is made of thousands of rocky planetesimals from to a few meters across. These are thought to be debris of the formation of the Solar System that could not form a planet due to Jupiter's gravity. When asteroids collide
Solar sail Forward a "statite". This is possible because the propulsion provided by the sail offsets the gravitational attraction of the Sun. Such an orbit could be useful for studying the properties of the Sun for long durations. Likewise a solar sail-equipped spacecraft could also remain on station nearly above the polar solar terminator of a planet such as the Earth by tilting the sail at the appropriate angle needed to counteract the planet's gravity. In his book "The Case for Mars", Robert Zubrin points out that the reflected sunlight from a large statite, placed near the polar terminator of the planet