The main asteroid belt has gaps cleared by the giant planets. This paper shows that the observed distribution of main belt asteroids does not fill uniformly even those regions that are dynamically stable over the age of the Solar System. There is a pattern of excess depletion of asteroids that is not accounted for by planetary perturbations in the current structure of the Solar System, but are consistent with dynamical ejection of asteroids by the sweeping of gravitational resonances during the migration of Jupiter and Saturn ∼4 Gyr ago.
- David A. Minton
- Renu Malhotra
