The group of small pieces of rock - revolving round the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter are called

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Q: 61 (IAS/1997)
The group of small pieces of rock - revolving round the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter are called

question_subject: 

Geography

question_exam: 

IAS

stats: 

0,241,64,22,13,29,241

keywords: 

{'meteorites': [0, 1, 0, 0], 'asteroids': [2, 1, 1, 0], 'comets': [0, 0, 0, 3], 'meteors': [0, 1, 1, 0], 'orbits': [1, 2, 1, 1], 'mars': [1, 1, 1, 1], 'jupiter': [1, 0, 0, 0], 'small pieces': [0, 1, 0, 0], 'sun': [3, 0, 0, 6], 'group': [0, 1, 0, 0], 'rock': [0, 0, 0, 1]}

The question refers to the group of small rocks revolving around the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Option 1, meteors, are wrong because meteors are shooting stars visible in the Earth`s atmosphere. Option 2, comets, are made of ice and dust and produce tails when they approach the sun, but not all of them are located between Mars and Jupiter. Option 3, meteorites, are wrong because meteorites are meteors that have hit the Earth`s surface. The correct answer is option 4, asteroids. Asteroids are rocky, airless remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago, and the largest quantities of them are indeed found in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.