Kuiper Belt

Kuiper Belt. The location and extent of the Kuiper Belt in relation to the orbits of the outer planets, seen from above the plane of the solar system (top) and along the plane (bottom). A population of small icy bodies, similar in size to asteroids, occupying a ring-shaped region in the plane of the solar system extending from the orbit of Neptune (30 AU from the Sun) out to possibly 100 or 150 AU. This population, members of which are variously described as "Kuiper Belt objects", "trans-Neptunian objects" or "ice dwarfs", is believed to be the source of short-period comets. The name of Gerard Kuiper, a distinguished Dutch-American planetary scientist, became associated with the belt because, in 1951, he predicted its existence from theoretical work on the origin of the planetary system. However, an Irish writer and theorist, Kenneth E. Edgeworth, had published similar arguments in 1943 and 1949. In recognition of his contribution, the belt is also sometimes termed the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. The first observational evidence for the existence of the Kuiper Belt was the discovery in 1992 of the faint object known as 1992 QB1 in a near-circular orbit about 50 AU from the Sun. About 50 further objects in similar orbits were found in the following few years. It has been suggested that Pluto is the largest member of the Kuiper Belt.