What is Kuiper Belt? | Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt

                    The Kuiper belt is the doughnut shaped disc like structure orbiting around the Sun. In 1930, the first Kuiper belt object was discovered. This first object is the dwarf planet Pluto. The Kuiper belt is named after the astronomer “Gerard Kuiper”.  In 1951, the Gerard Kuiper published a scientific paper that speculated about the objects beyond the dwarf planet Pluto. In 1940, the Kenneth Edgeworth also briefly mentioned about the objects beyond the Pluto. Thus the Kuiper belt is sometimes referred to as the “Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt”. In 1983, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft of the NASA was the first spacecraft which was entered in the Kuiper belt.

Kuiper Belt

                The Kuiper belt is the disc shaped region. This region is extending from the orbit of the Neptune planet at 30 AU to approximately 50 AU. The Kuiper belt is similar to the Main Asteroid belt. But the Kuiper belt is 20 times wider and 20-200 times massive than the asteroid belt. The Kuiper belt is made up of small icy bodies or remnants from when the solar system formed most of the Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) are composed largely of frozen volatiles such as ammonia, water and methane. The three dwarf planets are discovered in the Kuiper belt, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake. The moons of the outer planets such as moon of the Planet Neptune Triton and moon of the Saturn Phoebe are originated in the Kuiper belt. The objects in the Kuiper belt, the members in the Scattered disc and any potential Hills clouds or Oort cloud objects, are collectively referred to as the Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). The dwarf planet Pluto is the largest Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and it is the second most massive “Trans-Neptunian object” (TNOs) after the dwarf planet Eris which is in scattered disc.

                The astronomer was observing the objects in the Kuiper belt. But the distance from the Earth to the Kuiper belt is too long. Because of this distance, astronomer facing difficulties to study this objects in Kuiper belt in detail. But even with the best telescopes, the astronomer can’t observe these objects properly. So, astronomers still facing difficulties to interpret the composition of the Kuiper belt objects. They can only predict the various factors about the objects (KBOs).

                One thing I want to ask is, why this Kuiper belt is important? The one important aspect about Kuiper belt is, it offers the information about the formation of our solar system. By studying the Kuiper belt, scientists may be able to understand how the planets and planetesimals are formed? What was the building blocks of formation of solar system? The Kuiper belt is most important and rich source of learning more about objects in our solar system. There are more than 2000 Kuiper belt objects discovered. Astronomers estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of objects in the region that are larger than 60 miles or 100 km wide.

                The dwarf planet Pluto was the first true and largest object in the Kuiper belt. After few years of observation, the astronomers saw that the region beyond the planet Neptune was full of icy rocks and tiny icy worlds. The Sedna, the most farthest discovered Kuiper belt object is about three-fourths the size of the Pluto. The distance between the Sun and Sedna is so far takes about approximately 10,500 years to make single trip around the Sun. In July 2005, astronomers discovered the another KBO named as Eris. The Eris is slightly smaller than the Pluto. The Eris requires approximately 580 years to complete one trip around the Sun. Now in 2008 two more KBOs are discovered which are Haumea and Makemake.