Labels:text | screenshot OCR: ASTEROID COLLISIONS Small AROUND 4.6 BILLION years ago, the asteroid vaporizes asteroid belt was about 1,200 times more massive than it is today. The belt at that time included many hundreds of objects larger than Ceres (the largest-known asteroid today). When these objects collided, Jupiter's gravity prevented them from sticking together to form a planet; instead, they tended to split into smaller pieces. Many of these spread around the Solar System, cratering the rocky planets and moons or falling into the Sun. FRAGMENTED ASTEROID A medium-energy impact fragments a large asteroid. Gravity then forces its pieces back together. CRATERS FRAGMENTED FAMILY FACT ASTEROID FILE