Start in science. What is the Kuiper Belt Planets of the Kuiper Belt

– areas of the Solar System: where it is located, description and characteristics with photos, interesting facts, research, discovery, objects.

Kuiper Belt- a large accumulation of icy objects at the edge of our solar system. - a spherical formation in which comets and other objects are located.

After the discovery of Pluto in 1930, scientists began to assume that it was not the most distant object in the system. Over time, they noted the movements of other objects and in 1992 they found a new site. Let's look at some interesting facts about the Kuiper Belt.

Interesting facts about the Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is capable of hosting hundreds of thousands of icy objects whose size varies between small fragments up to 100 km wide;
Most short-period comets come from the Kuiper Belt. Their orbital period does not exceed 200 years;
There may be more than a trillion comets lurking in the main part of the Kuiper Belt;
The largest objects are Pluto, Quaoar, Makemake, Haumea, Ixion and Varuna;
The first mission to the Kuiper Belt was launched in 2015. This is the New Horizons probe, which explored Pluto and Charon;
Researchers have detected belt-like structures around other stars (HD 138664 and HD 53143);
The ice in the belt formed during the creation of the Solar System. With their help you can understand the conditions of the early nebula;

Definition of the Kuiper Belt

We need to start the explanation with where the Kuiper Belt is located. It can be found beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune. Resembles the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter because it contains remnants from the formation of the Solar System. But in size it is 20-200 times larger than it. If not for the influence of Neptune, the fragments would have merged and were able to form planets.

Discovery and name of the Kuiper Belt

The presence of other objects was first announced by Freak Leonard, who called them ultra-Neptunian celestial bodies beyond Pluto. Then Armin Leuschner believed that Pluto could be just one of many long-period planetary objects that had yet to be found. Below are the largest Kuiper Belt objects.

Largest Kuiper Belt Objects

Name	Equatorial diameter	Major axle, A. e.	Perihelion, A. e.	Aphelion, A. e.	Circulation period around the Sun (years)	Open
	2330 +10 / −10 .	67,84	38,16	97,52	559	2003i
	2390	39,45	29,57	49,32	248	1930 i
	1500 +400 / −200	45,48	38,22	52,75	307	2005i
	~1500	43,19	34,83	51,55	284	2005i
	1207 ± 3	39,45	29,57	49,32	248	1978
2007 OR 10	875-1400	67,3	33,6	101,0	553	2007i
Quaoar	~1100	43,61	41,93	45,29	288	2002i
Orc	946,3 +74,1 / −72,3	39,22	30,39	48,05	246	2004 i
2002 AW 197	940	47,1	41,0	53,3	323	2002i
Varuna	874	42,80	40,48	45,13	280	2000 i
Ixion	< 822	39,70	30,04	49,36	250	2001 i
2002 UX 25	681 +116 / −114	42,6	36,7	48,6	278	2002i

In 1943, Kenneth Edgeworth published an article. He wrote that the material beyond Neptune is too dispersed to coalesce into a larger body. In 1951, Gerard Kuiper entered the discussion. He writes about a disk that appeared at the beginning of the evolution of the Solar System. Everyone liked the belt idea because it explained where comets come from.

In 1980, Julio Fernandez determined that the Kuiper Belt is located at a distance of 35-50 AU. In 1988, computer models based on his calculations appeared, which showed that the Oort Cloud could not be responsible for all comets, so the Kuiper Belt idea made more sense.

In 1987, David Jewitt and Jane Lu began actively searching for objects using telescopes at the Whale Peak National Observatory and the Cerro Tololo Observatory. In 1992 they announced the 1992 QB1 and 6 months later the 1993 FW.

But many do not agree with this name, because Gerard Kuiper had something else in mind and all honors should be given to Fernandez. Due to the controversy that has arisen, scientific circles prefer to use the term “trans-Neptunian objects.”

Composition of the Kuiper Belt

What does the composition of the Kuiper Belt look like? Thousands of objects live on the territory of the belt, and in theory there are 100,000 with a diameter exceeding 100 km. They are all believed to be composed of ice - a mixture of light hydrocarbons, ammonia and water ice.

Water ice has been found on some sites, and in 2005 Michael Brown determined that 50,000 Quaoar contained water ice and ammonia hydrate. Both of these substances disappeared during the development of the solar system, which means there is tectonic activity on the object or a meteorite fall occurred.

Large celestial bodies were recorded in the belt: Quaoar, Makemake, Haumea, Orcus and Eridu. They were the reason why Pluto was relegated to the category of dwarf planets.

Exploring the Kuiper Belt

In 2006, NASA sent the New Horizons probe to Pluto. It arrived in 2015, demonstrating for the first time the “heart” of the dwarf and former planet 9. Now he goes towards the belt to examine its objects.

There is little information about the Kuiper belt, so it hides a huge number of comets. The most famous is Halley's comet with a periodicity of 16,000-200,000 years.

The Future of the Kuiper Belt

Gerard Kuiper believed that TNOs would not last forever. The belt spans approximately 45 degrees in the sky. There are many objects, and they constantly collide, turning into dust. Many believe that hundreds of millions of years will pass and nothing will remain of the belt. Let's hope the New Horizons mission gets there sooner!

For thousands of years, humanity has watched the arrival of comets and tried to understand where they come from. If the ice cover evaporates when approaching a star, then they must be located at a great distance.

Over time, scientists came to the conclusion that beyond the planetary orbits there is a large cloud with ice and rocky bodies. It's called the Oort Cloud, but it still exists in theory because we can't see it.

Definition of the Oort Cloud

The Oort cloud is a theoretical spherical formation filled with icy objects. Located at a distance of 100,000 AU. from the Sun, which is why it covers interstellar space. Like the Kuiper belt, it is a repository of trans-Neptunian objects. Its existence was first discussed by Ernest Opik, who believed that comets could arrive from the region at the edge of the solar system.

In 1950, Jan Oort revived the concept and even managed to explain the principles of behavior of long-term comets. The existence of the cloud has not been proven, but it has been recognized in scientific circles.

Structure and composition of the Oort cloud

It is believed that the cloud can be located at 100,000-200,000 AU. from the sun. The composition of the Oort Cloud includes two parts: a spherical outer cloud (20000-50000 AU) and a disk inner cloud (2000-20000 AU). The outer one is home to trillions of bodies with a diameter of 1 km and billions of 20-kilometer ones. There is no information about the total mass. But if Halley's comet is a typical body, then the calculations lead to a figure of 3 x 10 25 kg (5 earths). Below is a drawing of the structure of the Oort Cloud.

Most comets are filled with water, ethane, ammonia, methane, hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. 1-2% may consist of asteroid objects.

Origin of the Oort cloud

It is believed that the Oort Cloud is a remnant of the original protoplanetary disk that formed around the Sun star 4.6 billion years ago. The objects could have merged closer to the Sun, but due to contact with large gas giants they were pushed to great distances.

A study from NASA scientists has shown that the huge volume of cloud objects is the result of exchanges between the Sun and neighboring stars. Computer models show that galactic and stellar tides change cometary orbits, making them more circular. Perhaps this is why the Oort Cloud takes the shape of a sphere.

The simulations also confirm that the creation of the outer cloud is consistent with the idea that the Sun appeared in a cluster of 200-400 stars. Ancient objects may have influenced the formation because there were more of them and they collided more often.

Comets from the Oort Cloud

It is believed that these objects drift quietly in the Oort Cloud until they go out of their usual route due to a gravitational push. So they become long-period comets and visit the outer system.

Kuiper Belt is a circumstellar disk that revolves around the Sun at a distance of 30 to 55 units.

The Kuiper Belt is named after Gerard Kuiper, who predicted its existence in 1951, 41 years before the first observations of these bodies in 1992. They belong to the group of so-called trans-Neptunian objects. The discovered objects range in size from 100 to 1000 kilometers in diameter. This belt is believed to be the source of short-period comets.

The first of these objects was discovered in 1992 by a team from the University of Hawaii.

This ring region is similar to the asteroid belt, but larger, 20 times larger and 20 to 200 times more massive. Like the asteroid belt, it mainly consists of small bodies, remnants of the formation of the Solar System and at least three dwarf planets, Pluto, Makemake and Haume. On the other hand, while the asteroid belt is mainly composed of rocky and metallic bodies, Kuiper belt objects are composed mainly of frozen volatile compounds such as methane, ammonia or water.

The Kuiper Belt should not be confused with the Oort cloud, a zone still theoretical. Kuiper belt objects, as well as diffuse objects and any potential members of the Oort cloud, are collectively referred to as trans-Neptunian objects.

Kuiper Belt Objects

More than 800 Kuiper belt objects have been observed. For a long time, astronomers considered Pluto and Charon to be the main objects of this group.

However, on June 4, 2002, Quaoar, an object of unusual size, was discovered. This body turned out to be half the size of Pluto. Being also larger than the moon Charon. Since then, other minor Kuiper belt objects have been discovered.

But on November 13, 2003, the discovery of a large body that was much further than Pluto was announced, they called it Sedna. The Sedna object has dethroned its position as the second largest trans-Neptunian object. Its membership in the Kuiper Belt has been questioned by some astronomers, who consider it too far from the Kuiper Belt, possibly representative of the lower limit of the Oort cloud.

The surprise came on July 29, 2005, when the opening of three new sites was announced: Eris, Makemake and Haumea. At first it was believed that Eris was older than Pluto itself, so it was named as the tenth planet, and at that time was considered the legendary Planet X. However, NASA's New Horizons probe in 2015 revealed the diameter of Pluto. It is 2,370 kilometers, about 80 kilometers larger than previous estimates, and so we now know with certainty that Eris (2,326 ± 12 km) is slightly smaller than Pluto. Strictly speaking, Eris does not belong to the Kuiper belt. It is part of the Oort cloud because its average distance to the Sun is 67 μA.

Classification

The exact classification of all these objects is unclear, since observations provide very little information about their composition or surfaces. Even estimates of their size are questionable, as in many cases they are based only on indirect evidence in comparison to other similar objects such as .

Since the discovery of the first object in 1992, more than a thousand other objects have been discovered in the Kuiper belt, and there would be more than 70,000 bodies larger than 100 km in diameter.

Large Kuiper Belt Objects

In 2007, Pluto was the largest known Kuiper belt object with a diameter of 2,300 km. Since 2000, several objects in the Kuiper Belt have been discovered with diameters ranging from 500 to 1200 km. Quaoar, a classic object discovered in 2002, has a diameter of more than 1,200 km. Makemake and Hauma, whose openings were announced simultaneously on July 29, 2005, are even larger. Other objects, such as Ixion (discovered in 2001) and Varuna (discovered in 2000), have a diameter of about 500 km.

In 2015, only five solar system objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris, are officially considered dwarf planets, and the last four are considered plutoids. However, many other objects in the Kuiper Belt are large enough to be spherical and may in the future be classified as dwarf planets.

Despite its great extent, the total mass of the Kuiper Belt is quite small, about one-tenth the total area of the Earth. Most objects are dimly lit, which is consistent with accretion models, since only some of the objects of a certain size were able to grow larger. In general, the number of objects of a certain size N is inversely proportional to a certain power q of diameter D: N ~ D-q. This proportionality relationship is supported by observations, and the value of q is estimated to be 4 ± 0.555. In the current state of knowledge (2008), only the size of objects is known; their size is determined based on their constant albedo.

Two of the three largest objects in the Kuiper Belt have moons: Pluto has five and Houma has two. Additionally, Eris, a diffuse object that formed in the Kuiper Belt, has one. The proportion of Kuiper Belt objects with satellites is higher for large objects than for smaller ones, indicating a different formation mechanism. On the other hand, 1% (or a high percentage) of objects would be binary systems, that is, two objects of relatively close mass in orbit around each other. Pluto and Charon are the most famous examples.

The total mass of objects in the Kuiper Belt was estimated by the telescope from their number and magnitude, estimating the average albedo at 0.04 and the average density at 1 g/cm3. This gives a mass approximately equal to 1% of the mass of the earth.

Kuiper Belt- the region of the solar system lying beyond the orbit of Neptune. Extends at distances of 30 - 55 AU. from the sun. The first objects in Kuiper belt were discovered in 1992, excluding the discovery of Pluto in 1930.

Kuiper Belt, like the Main (Inner) asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, consists of small bodies left over from the early stages of the formation of the Solar System. But, according to modern ideas, Kuiper belt asteroids consist mainly not of rocks, like the asteroids of the Main Belt, but of frozen pieces of water and gases like ammonia and methane.
The Kuiper Belt is not only larger than the Inner Belt in size, but is 20 to 200 times heavier. More than a thousand objects have already been discovered, but it is believed that there are several tens of thousands more undiscovered objects with a diameter of more than 100 km.

Pluto, recently demoted from planets to the category of dwarf planets, also belongs to the Kuiper belt. In addition to Pluto, other dwarf planets are also located here - Makemake and Huamea. Eris seems to be “here” too, but its orbit goes far beyond the belt and simultaneously belongs to the Scattered Disk. The scattered disk can be considered as part of the Kuiper belt, but more often it is understood as a transition zone - from the Kuiper belt to the Orth Cloud.

To date, more than a thousand large asteroids have been discovered in the Kuiper Belt. The estimated number of undiscovered small objects measuring about one hundred kilometers is several tens of thousands. The total mass of the Kuiper belt is tens of times greater than the mass of the inner ring of asteroids.

At one time it was believed that Kuiper belt is a supplier of comets with an orbital period of up to 200 years. which periodically fly into the inner regions of the Solar System. But, according to the latest data, it seems more likely that belt objects have relatively stable orbits, and comets of this type come to us from the much more distant Scattered Disk.
Also, there are suggestions that some small bodies of the Solar System originally arose in the Kuiper belt and only then ended up in the inner regions of the Solar System. Such are, for example, Neptune's satellite Triton and Saturn's satellite Phoebe.

Kuiper belt objects are sometimes divided into three types: 1. Cubiwanos are the classic inhabitants of the Kuiper belt. They have almost circular orbits and their movement is not connected with the movement of other planets. Named after the first open object - 1992 QB1. This also includes, for example, Makemake, Quaoar and Varuna. 2. Plutino - named after the dwarf planet Pluto. Plutino's orbits are in orbital resonance with the motion of Neptune in the form of integers: 1:2, 2:3, 2:5, 3:4, 3:5, 4:5 and so on. This includes bodies such as Orcus, Ixion and Huia. 3. Scattered objects belonging or partially belonging to the Scattered Disk. The most famous representatives: Eris and Sedna.

The Largest Kuiper Belt Objects

№	Name	Equatorial diameter (km)	Major semi-axis, a. e.	Perihelion, a. e.	Aphelios, a. e.	Period of revolution around the Sun (years)	Opening year
136199	Eris	2330 ±10	67,84	38,16	97,52	559	2005
134340	Pluto	2390	39,45	29,57	49,32	248	1930
136472	Makemake	1500 +400/−200	45,48	38,22	52,75	307	2005
136108	Haumea	~1500	43,19	34,83	51,55	284	2005
134340	Charon	1207 ±3	39,45	29,57	49,32	248	1978
225088	2007 OR10	~1535	67,3	33,6	101,0	553	2016
50000	Quaoar	~1100	43,61	41,93	45,29	288	2002
90482	Orc	946,3 +74,1/−72,3	39,22	30,39	48,05	246	2004
55565	2002 AW197	940	47,1	41,0	53,3	323	2002
20000	Varuna	874	42,80	40,48	45,13	280	2000
28978	Ixion		39,70	30,04	49,36	250	2001
55637	2002 UX25	681 +116/−114	42,6	36,7	48,6	278	2002

The values of the equatorial diameters are given with the values of possible deviations in both directions. or tell your friends:

At the moment, Neptune is recognized as the most distant planet in the solar system. As for Pluto, since 2006 the International Astronomical Union has demoted it from being a “planet” and has become part of the Kuiper belt, receiving the definition of a “dwarf planet.” Distant celestial objects whose average distance to the Sun is greater than that of Neptune while they orbit the Sun are called “trans-Neptunian objects.” Therefore, the largest trans-Neptunian objects located in the Kuiper belt include Pluto, its large satellite Charon, the massive dwarf planet Eris and about 1,400 other trans-Neptunian objects

Beyond the orbit of the farthest planet from the Sun, Neptune, begins the Kuiper Belt, which is residual material from the construction of the Solar System in the form of various objects similar to asteroids, only consisting mainly of ice, methane, ammonia and water.

Since the discovery of the Kuiper belt in 1992, the number of designated objects has exceeded 1,000, including the famous dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea and Makemake.

At the beginning of the discovery, it was believed that the Kuiper belt is the building material for comets, the short orbital period of which did not exceed 200 years, but later it turned out that the source could be a dynamically active region, which was called the scattered disk, the orbits of which objects go to a great distance from the Sun (over 100 a.u.)

Scattered disk

This region is too far from the Sun, where there are a small number of celestial bodies consisting mainly of ice. How and from where did an area with such “scattered” objects appear (they are also classified as “trans-Neptunian objects”), but most scientists are inclined to believe that such a field appeared from Kuiper Belt objects due to gravitational interaction with the outer planets, one of which was the major planet Neptune.

An area that has not yet been confirmed by technical means is very far from the Sun from 50 thousand to 100 thousand AU. (that's about 1 light year) and about 1/4 the distance to Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system.