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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 Grand tack hypothesis explains how in the Solar System giant planets migrated in unique way to form the Solar System belts and near circular orbit of planets around the Sun. [10] [11] [9] The Solar System's belts are one key parameters for a Solar System that can support complex life, as circular orbits are a parameter needed for the ...
The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but consisting mainly of objects composed primarily of ice. [195] It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. It is composed mainly of small Solar System bodies, although the largest few are probably large enough to be dwarf planets. [ 196 ]
This is the primary reason it has a larger population than the other Neptunian resonances encountered in the Kuiper Belt. The cloud of low-inclination bodies beyond 40 AU is the cubewano family, while bodies with higher eccentricities (0.05 to 0.34) and semimajor axes close to the 3:2 Neptune resonance are primarily plutinos. [3]
The Kuiper belt lies between 30 and 55 AU from the Sun, while the farther scattered disc extends to over 100 AU, [47] and the distant Oort cloud begins at about 50,000 AU. [68] Originally, however, the Kuiper belt was much denser and closer to the Sun, with an outer edge at approximately 30 AU.
The asteroid belt is the smallest and innermost known circumstellar disc in the Solar System. Classes of small Solar System bodies in other regions are the near-Earth objects, the centaurs, the Kuiper belt objects, the scattered disc objects, the sednoids, and the Oort cloud objects.
(55636) 2002 TX 300 is a bright Kuiper belt object in the outer Solar System estimated to be about 286 kilometres (178 mi) in diameter. [4] It is a large member of the Haumea family that was discovered on 15 October 2002 by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program. [1]
In planetary astronomy, a centaur is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune and crosses the orbits of one or more of the giant planets. . Centaurs generally have unstable orbits because of this; almost all their orbits have dynamic lifetimes of only a few million years, [1] but there is one known centaur, 514107 Kaʻepaokaʻawela, which may be in a stable ...