Are there asteroids outside of the asteroid belt?
Most asteroids are found in the asteroid belt, but not all. Some asteroids orbit closer to the Sun. Asteroids that closely approach Earth are called Near-Earth Asteroids. Sometimes they strike the Earth, burning in the atmosphere as a meteor. If they are large enough, they might actually hit the surface and become meteorites. There are also some asteroids in the outer solar system that are called Centaurs, although it is hard to determine whether a particular Centaur is an asteroid, comet, or Kuiper Belt object. For example, the first Centaur to be discovered was Chiron. But some scientists think it is a comet, not an asteroid. Officially it is both the asteroid 2060 Chiron and the comet 95P/Chiron! Some asteroids are also found at the stable points 60° behind and ahead of the orbits of Jupiter and other planets. The points are called Lagrange points and the asteroids found there are called Trojans. Many of the small moons of some planets may have once been asteroids that were captured
