New in Wolfram Mathematica 7: Dynamic Astronomical Computation  previous | next 
Visualize Minor-Planet Orbital Resonances
Compute the number of minor planets found at certain distances from the Sun. Due to orbital resonances with Jupiter, there are reduced numbers of minor planets at certain distances.
In[1]:=

Click for copyable input
asteroidCount = 

  BinCounts[

   Sort@Cases[(AstronomicalData[#, "SemimajorAxis"]/149597870691) & /@

       Join[AstronomicalData["InnerMainBeltAsteroid"], 

       AstronomicalData["MainBeltAsteroid"], 

       AstronomicalData["OuterMainBeltAsteroid"]], x_?NumberQ], {2, 

    3.5, .005}];
In[2]:=

Click for copyable input
ListPlot[asteroidCount, Joined -> True, Filling -> 0, Mesh -> All, 

 Ticks -> {Table[{Rescale[x, {2, 3.5}, {0, 301}], x}, {x, 2, 

     3.5, .2}], Automatic}]
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