Kuiper Belt is a disc-shaped region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune in our solar system. It is also called Edgeworth–Kuiper Belt.

Outer Solar System and Kuiper Belt

Pluto and Eris are the best known of these icy worlds. There may be hundreds more of these ice dwarfs out there. The Kuiper Belt and even more distant Oort Cloud are believed to be the home of comets that orbit our sun.

The Kuiper Belt extends from about 30 to 55 AU and is probably populated with hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 100 km (62 miles) across and an estimated trillion or more comets.

The Oort Cloud probably contains 0.1 to 2 trillion icy bodies in solar orbit.

How the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud Got Their Names

Both distant regions are named for the astronomers who predicted their existence: Gerard Kuiper and Jan Oort. Objects discovered in the Kuiper Belt get their names from diverse mythologies. Eris is named for the Greek goddess of discord and strife. Haumea is named for a Hawaiian goddess of fertility and childbirth. Comets from both regions are generally named for the person who discovered them.

Missions to the Kuiper Belt

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is designed to make the first close-up study of Pluto and its moons and other icy worlds in the distant Kuiper Belt. The spacecraft has seven scientific instruments to study the atmospheres, surfaces, interiors and intriguing environments of Pluto and its distant neighbours.

Did you know?

Pluto was the first true Kuiper Belt Object to be viewed.

Related:

• Books on the Planets

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