The asteroid belt is located between which two planets?

The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. It is a broad, torus-shaped region of rocky bodies orbiting the Sun, usually called the main asteroid belt to distinguish it from other asteroid populations.

The belt formed from leftover planetesimals, the building blocks of planets. Jupiter's powerful gravity disrupted collisions and orbital patterns in this region, preventing the material from gathering into a single planet. Early in Solar System history, most of the belt's original mass was lost through collisions, ejection, or gravitational scattering.

Despite its name and many science-fiction depictions, the asteroid belt is mostly empty space. Its asteroids are widely separated, so spacecraft can cross it without weaving through a dense field of rocks. The largest object is Ceres, which is classified as a dwarf planet; Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea are also major members. Gravitational resonances with Jupiter create gaps in the belt, known as Kirkwood gaps, where asteroids are cleared from unstable orbits.