IMPLICATIONS FROM THE MOTION OF OUTER BELT ASTEROIDS

A principal feature of the asteroidal distribution is the rapid truncation of its population outward from ∼3.4 AU. This paper presents further evidence, based on the motion and distribution of certain minor planets with large semimajor axes, that this truncation cannot be strictly the result of gravitational perturbations of the major planets even acting over times of ∼109 years. The motion of other outer asteroids sets a probable upper limit of 0.081 on Jupiter's eccentricity. © 1979.