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The Kuiper belt (/ ˈ k aɪ p ər / KY-pər) [1] is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. [2] It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive.
The asteroid and comet belts orbit the Sun from the inner rocky planets into outer parts of the Solar System, interstellar space. [16] [17] [18] An astronomical unit, or AU, is the distance from Earth to the Sun, which is approximately 150 billion meters (93 million miles). [19]
A classical Kuiper belt object, also called a cubewano (/ ˌ k juː b iː ˈ w ʌ n oʊ / "QB1-o"), [a] is a low-eccentricity Kuiper belt object (KBO) that orbits beyond Neptune and is not controlled by an orbital resonance with Neptune. Cubewanos have orbits with semi-major axes in the 40–50 AU range and, unlike Pluto, do not cross Neptune's ...
Since the year 2000, a number of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) with diameters of between 500 and 1500 km (more than half that of Pluto) have been discovered. 50000 Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1000 km across. Makemake and Haumea, both announced on 29 July 2005, are larger still.
(307261) 2002 MS 4 (provisional designation 2002 MS 4) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, which is a region of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune.It was discovered on 18 June 2002 by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown during their search for bright, Pluto-sized Kuiper belt objects at Palomar Observatory.
Among the distant minor planets, the icy Kuiper belt object Arrokoth was confirmed to be a contact binary when the New Horizons spacecraft flew past in 2019. [1] The small main-belt asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh was confirmed to have the first known contact binary satellite after the Lucy probe flew by it on November 1, 2023. [31]
(55565) 2002 AW 197 (provisional designation 2002 AW 197) is a classical, non-resonant trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, also known as a cubewano.
Salacia (minor-planet designation: 120347 Salacia) is a large trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the Kuiper belt, approximately 850 km (530 mi) in diameter.It was discovered on 22 September 2004, by American astronomers Henry Roe, Michael Brown and Kristina Barkume at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States.