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
Vulcan (hypothetical planet) circular orbits of Venus and Earth. Einstein's theory was empirically verified during the solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 by measuring the bending of sunlight. Astronomers generally quickly accepted that a large planet inside the orbit of Mercury could not exist, given the corrected equation of gravity. Observing a planet inside the orbit of Mercury is difficult, since the telescope must be pointed very close to the Sun, where the sky is only dark during a solar eclipse. Also, an error in pointing the telescope can result in damage for the optics, and injury to the observer if viewing directly.