10 Interesting Kuiper Belt Facts

Friday, May 30th 2014. | Universe


If you like to know the information about the universe, you can read Kuiper Belt facts. What is Kuiper belt actually? It is a region in the solar system located on the orbit of Neptune. The Kuiper belt is also nicknamed as the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt.  It is about 30 to 50 AU from the sun. Here are the fascinating facts about Kuiper Belt:

Kuiper Belt Facts 1: length of Kuiper Belt

Are you curious to know the length of Kuiper belt?  The scientists estimate that the Kuiper belt has the length of 4.5 billion to 7.4 billion km from the sun.

Kuiper Belt Facts 2: icy bodies

The Kuiper is far away from US. Therefore, the scientists approximate that there are at least a trillion comets and thousand of icy bodies in the belt.

Kuiper belt facts

Kuiper belt facts

Kuiper Belt Facts 3: dwarf planets

In the Kuiper belt, you can find three dwarf planets of Ceres, Eris and Pluto included in the belt. Check Eris facts here.

Kuiper Belt Facts 4: name

Do you know why the belt is called as Kuiper belt? It was named aster Gerard Kuiper. He is the astronomer who practiced the system of Kuiper Belt.

Kuiper belt image

Kuiper belt image

Kuiper Belt Facts 5: shape

Kuiper belt is a part of our solar system.  The shape of the belt reminds people with an eclipse, not a circle. It is included inside the region of space.

Kuiper Belt Facts 6: objects in the Kuiper Belt

The objects that people can find in the Kuiper belt are myriads. It is estimated that the Kuiper belt contains trillion objects.

Kuiper belt pic

Kuiper belt pic

Kuiper Belt Facts 7: existence

The research shows the documentation of more than 1,000 Kuiper belt objects. Of course the number will be increased since there are myriad objects inside the Kuiper belt.

Kuiper Belt Facts 8: Pluto

The most famous object located within the Kuiper belt is Pluto.  In the past, Pluto was named as the ninth planet in the solar system. But now it is only a kind of a dwarf planet.

Kuiper belt space

Kuiper belt space

Kuiper Belt Facts 9: spacecraft

The study of Kuiper belt is very limited because there is no spacecraft launched within the Kuiper belt. However, in 2015, NASA New Horizons have a plan to venture the Kuiper belt.

Kuiper Belt Facts 10: contents

The scientists think that the content inside the Kuiper belt are created from the left over material used to generate the solar system.

Kuiper belt

Kuiper belt

Compared to the main asteroid belt, the Kuiper belt is 20 times wider. Do you have any opinion on facts about Kuiper belt?


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