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In 1992, minor planet (15760) Albion was discovered, the first Kuiper belt object (KBO) since Pluto (in 1930) and Charon (in 1978). [16] Since its discovery, the number of known KBOs has increased to thousands, and more than 100,000 KBOs over 100 km (62 mi) in diameter are thought to exist. [17]
The name "Kuiper belt" was given to the region in the 1980s; [9] it was first used in print by Scott Tremaine in 1988. [10]: 191 In the 1960s, Kuiper helped identify landing sites on the Moon for the Apollo program. [a] Kuiper discovered several binary stars which received "Kuiper numbers" to identify them, such as KUI 79.
From 1992 onward, many bodies were discovered orbiting in the same volume as Pluto, showing that Pluto is part of a population of objects called the Kuiper belt. This made its official status as a planet controversial, with many questioning whether Pluto should be considered together with or separately from its surrounding population.
Launched on January 19, 2006, the New Horizons probe is the first human-made spacecraft to explore the Kuiper belt. This uncrewed mission flew by Pluto in July 2015. The mission was extended to observe a number of other Kuiper belt objects, including a close flyby of 486958 Arrokoth on New Year's Day, 2019. [68]
The asteroid 3487 Edgeworth (1978 UF), a main-belt asteroid discovered on 28 October 1978 by H. L. Giclas at Flagstaff, is named in his honour. [ 24 ] Kenneth Edgeworth has left behind a very important legacy in the field of astronomy.
There are about 4,000 known comets in our Solar System so far and most of them come from beyond Pluto, in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. One of such, called C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, will make ...
Over one thousand bodies were found in the Kuiper belt orbiting between about 30 and 50 AU from the Sun in the twenty years after finding 15760 Albion. This revealed a vast belt of bodies, more than just Pluto and Albion themselves. [17] [18] By 2018, over 2000 Kuiper belt objects were discovered. [18]
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