What is the Kuiper belt?

Kuiper belt is an area of ​​the solar system around the Neptune orbit. It extends from about 30 astronomical units (AU), or 30 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun, to about 50 AU. The Kuiper belt is home to hundreds orbiting the Kuiper or KBO belts, the most famous of which is the dwarf of Pluto. Charon, which is either the moon Pluto or half the formation of a double planet, is also KBO. Neptune's Moon, Triton, is considered a former Kuiper belt that has become imprisoned in the planet's orbit.

Astronomers Frederick C. Leonard and Kenneth E. Edgeworth were among the first to hypothetized the existence of what would become known as the Kuiper belt, in 1930 and 1943. However, the theory popularized Gerard Kuiper. In 1951, Kuiper suggested that the comets of the short period orbiting the sun in less than 200 years came from the Kuiper Belt area. The region received its current name in 1992, when the first KPO after Pluto Acharon was discovered.

Kuiper belts have a diverse size and appearance. Most of them are assumed that they are composed of a rock and ice in different dimensions. Pluto is the largest, with an average of 2320 km. Kuiper belts are classified into two main groups: classic KBOS or cubewanos and resonant KBO. The classic KBO has orbit that is not associated with the orbit of the Neptune planet and is not affected, while the resonant KBO has orbits that resonate with the orbit of the Neptune orbit. The vast majority of KBO, about three -quarters discovered so far, has classic diversity.

Resonance KBOS occupies strips of specific resonance, such as resonance 2: 3 - which means that KBO orbit twice for every three Neptune orbit - around 39.4 AU and 1: 2 resonance around 47.7 AU. Most of the classic KBO occupies the area between the two resonances. 2: 3 Resonance KBO are called plutinos after the most famous of these objectsů, Pluto. 1: 2 resonant kbo are called Twotinos . There are also KBOs with resonances other than two discussed above.