From: ldo@nz.invalid   
      
   On Sat, 21 Feb 2026 17:10:17 -0500, William Hyde wrote:   
      
   > Alas, the mass of the entire asteroid belt is not enough to   
   > significantly increase the mass of Mars.   
      
   I can remember some SF stories suggesting that the Asteroid Belt is   
   the debris left over from a planet which was destroyed in an ancient   
   war.   
      
   Fredric Brown’s “Letter To A Phoenix” (still sticks in my mind from my   
   earliest readings in SF):   
      
       I hope that never again is rediscovered the weapon Thragan used   
       against her colony on Skora, which was then the fifth planet until   
       the Thragans blew it into asteroids.   
      
   But yes, the actual mass of the asteroids is way too small to make up   
   a significant planet.   
      
   In fact, I have heard our Solar System described as consisting of “the   
   Sun, Jupiter, and assorted debris”. The entire mass of the rest of all   
   the bodies other than those first two put together doesn’t even come   
   to the mass of Jupiter.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)