Final answer:
The gravitational pull between two objects is affected by their masses and the distance between them, as described by Newton's law of universal gravitation, which states that gravitational force is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
Step-by-step explanation:
The factors that affect the gravitational pull between two massive objects include the mass of each object and the distance between their centers. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, the force of gravity is directly proportional to the product of the two masses, meaning that the greater the mass, the stronger the gravitational pull. This law is expressed in the equation Fgravity = G × (M1 × M2) / R2, where Fgravity represents the gravitational force, G is the gravitational constant, M1 and M2 are the masses of the objects, and R is the distance between their centers. Additionally, as the distance between two masses increases, the gravitational force decreases, which is why gravitational pull is stronger closer to the mass. For example, asteroids in space begin to attract each other more as they get closer. The attraction also depends on each asteroid's mass; if one asteroid has twice the mass of the other, both asteroids experience the same gravitational force due to Newton's third law of motion, but the less massive one will experience a greater acceleration.