File:Kirkwood Gaps.svg

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DescriptionKirkwood Gaps.svg	English: This histogram clearly shows the primary Kirkwood gaps in the asteroid main-belt. These gaps (labeled "3:1", "5:2", "7:3", "2:1") are caused by mean-motion resonances between an asteroid and Jupiter. For example, the 3:1 Kirkwood gap is located where the ratio of an asteroid's orbital period to that of Jupiter is 3/1 (the asteroid completes 3 orbits for every 1 orbit of Jupiter). The effect of these mean-motion resonances is a change in the asteroid's orbital elements (particularly semimajor axis) sufficient to create these gaps in semimajor axis space. inner main-belt (a < 2.5 AU) middle main-belt (2.5 AU < a > 2.82 AU) outer main-belt (a > 2.82 AU
Date	June 2007
Source	http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/images/ast_histo.ps
Author	based on plot by Alan Chamberlain, JPL/Caltech
Other versions	español македонски polski

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