ipl-logo

Pluto: The Kuiper Belt

1530 Words7 Pages

The Kuiper Belt is a wide, massive belt beyond the orbit of Neptune which orbits around the sun. The belt itself is between 30 AU and 50 AU away from the sun and the size is around 20 AU's wide. It is thought to contain tens of millions of ice bodies called KBO's or Kuiper Belt Objects which is mostly made out of water, methane, and ammonia. The most famous of the objects is of course Pluto. The Kuiper Belt is similar to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and is thought to contain over 100,00 KBO's and it is much larger than the inner solar system. However scientist have observed the Belt and only discovered around 1000 KBO's. Mostly all of the objects that have been found are typically made out of rock and metals which contain …show more content…

Another KBO called Eris, is twice the diameter of Charon and is only slightly smaller than Pluto itself. This made astronomers reevaluate if Pluto should actually be considered a planet or as one of the larger bodies in the Kuiper Belt. As different evidence began to mount it was concluded that Pluto was a KBO that just happened to be found 62 years before the 1992 QB1 KBO was discovered. This led to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voting to classify Pluto and Eris as Dwarf …show more content…

These scattered-disc objects have extreme orbits in our solar system and are thought to be a type of result of gravitational scattering by our larger gas giants, and are still subjected to gravity by the outermost planet in our solar system, Neptune. The closest scattered objects approach the Sun around 30-35 AU, but their orbits can extend well beyond 100 AU which is further than the Kuiper Belt. These objects are the furthest away from the sun which makes them the coldest objects in our solar system. The innermost objects of the scattered disk objects overlaps with the Kuiper

Show More
Related

  • Pluto Pros And Cons

    332 Words  | 2 Pages

    Also, if a planet is smaller than not even the biggest moon

    Read More

  • Uranus Accomplishments

    182 Words  | 1 Pages

    There were many questions asked, such as is it large enough, is it circular, what is its orbit, and other things.

    Read More

  • The Chicxulub Impact

    1112 Words  | 5 Pages

    The asteroids are orbiting around the sun mainly in what we call the asteroid belt - an area between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. There are millions of asteroids in space, ranging in size from hundreds of metres across to as small as a pebble. Asteroids are made

    Read More

  • Pluto Research Paper

    331 Words  | 2 Pages

    Last but not least, the object must have “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit of other objects. Pluto can’t be a planet also because it's surrounded by other planets the same size and shape. Which according to USA today cannot be considered a planet. Pluto also tends to go into Neptune's orbit. Which means that Pluto isn’t a planet because “true”

    Read More

  • Should Pluto Be A Dwarf Planet?

    259 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pluto was discovered in 1930 and was named a planet. In 2006 it was ruled a dwarf planet. I think that Pluto should not be a planet it should be a dwarf planet. Pluto should not be a planet because there is another planet bigger that was not a planet. It does not clear the neighborhood around the orbit of other objects.

    Read More

  • How Has The Discovery Of Uranus Changed With The Telescope

    253 Words  | 2 Pages

    Discovery of Uranus by William Hershcel in 1781 The modern world was changed with the invention of the telescope. We were able to see farther into space because of the telescope. To see things that had been hidden from our view. Sir William Herschel in 1781 discovered Uranus with a telescope that he construed himself.

    Read More

  • Why Study Pluto

    493 Words  | 2 Pages

    Also in our Solar System there is the asteroid belt and much much more. We are currently trying to study all of the planets by sending an AI. But we need to start focusing on one planet, and that planet I believe should be Pluto. The planet Pluto, is not actually considered a planet. Since it is so small and is two-thirds of Earth’s moon diameter it is better known as a dwarf planet.

    Read More

  • Rogue Planets

    224 Words  | 1 Pages

    There have been many sightings of rogue planets throughout the universe. However, in the year of 2006 it was publicized that one of our most important evidence on the existence of rogue planets. With this evidence, it was recorded, that two planets were orbiting each other without a star. This evidence comes from the European Southern Observatory. Astronomers have predicted based on the following quote, “There could be over 100,000 times more rogue planets in the Milky Way than stars.”

    Read More

  • Why Is Pluto Be A Planet

    308 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pluto should not be a planet. According to nasa.org it states, “Today, Pluto is called a “dwarf planet.” A dwarf planet orbits the sun just like other planets, but it is smaller.” At Discovery Education, it explains “The more astronomers learned about Pluto, however, the more uncomfortable they became with Pluto’s classification as a planet.” In USA Today the text states, “Another expert, Gareth Williams, associate director of the IAU Minor Planet Center, said that Pluto is not a planet, citing the official definition, which states that a planet is a celestial body that: is in orbit around the sun, is round or nearly round, and has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit, meaning it is not surrounded by objects of similar size and characteristics.

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Mercury Planet

    1470 Words  | 6 Pages

    It's the smallest dwarf planet. The surface temperature there is usually -106 to 34C. Ceres length of one day is 378 earth days. It is 381 to 447 million km from the sun. It is made out of rocks. In 1801 on New Year's day Giuseppe piazzi found Ceres in a strong telescope.

    Read More

  • Rosetta Mission Research Paper

    714 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion The history, current perceptions, and future implications of the Rosetta Mission study has helped the scientific understanding of how Rosetta will unlock the mysteries of how the Solar System evolved. After September 2016 when the Rosetta Mission ended, scientists concluded that “The rosetta mission helps the understanding of how comets change and evolve with time , it gives us important insights on comets and abundance of ices on comets and how long comets can stay in the inner solar system before losing all their ice and becoming balls of dust,” said

    Read More

  • Saturn Research Paper

    768 Words  | 4 Pages

    The rings were first observed by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610 with the help of early less powerful telescope. His telescope wasn 't that good (low resolution) as compare to today’s telescope, though, he able to observe "blobs" on both side of Saturn, which he thought were moons of Saturn. Later in 1656 a Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens able to correctly identified the "blobs" as rings around Saturn. They have allured and perplexed astronomers since they were discovered 400 years ago. Many mathematicians have study the distribution of particles of ice and rock throughout the rings and believe that they are attributes of catastrophic collisions over time.

    Read More

  • Kepler-452b Research Paper

    712 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is known about the planet is that it is about 60 percent larger than Earth, placing it in a class of planets dubbed "super-Earths." While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a better than even chance of being rocky. Kepler-452b orbits its star every 385 days. The planet's star is about 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. It is a G2-type star like our

    Read More

  • Uranus Observation Report

    266 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the night of Wednesday, November 11, I went to the RLM. At 7:25 I observed Uranus at approximately 40 degrees in the east southeastern sky. It only appeared as a small whitish dot against a vast black background. I found it by looking directly into the lens where the astronomers had pointed the telescope in the sky. Discovered in 1781, Uranus is the third largest planet in the solar system.

    Read More

  • Primordial Black Holes

    758 Words  | 4 Pages

    These are called black holes. A black hole is a very unique celestial body so unlike any other; the three types are primordial, stellar, and supermassive. There is not a lot known about primordial black holes. Primordial black holes are believed to have existed since the beginning of the universe (nasa.gov). They are the smallest class of black holes (Primitive).

    Read More

More about Pluto: The Kuiper Belt

Open Document