Kuiper belt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kuiper belt is an area of the Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to 50 AU from the Sun.
The objects within the Kuiper Belt together with the members of the scattered disk beyond, are together called trans-Neptunian.
The asteroids in the Kuiper belt are much bigger than the asteroids in the asteroid belt. At least some Kuiper belt objects are icebound.
After the Kuiper belt was discovered in 1992, the number of known Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) has added to over a thousand, and more than 70,000 KBOs over 100 km (62 mi) in diameter.
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| Sun • Heliosphere |
Planets ☾ = moon(s) ∅ = rings |
Mercury | Venus | Earth ☾ | Mars ☾ | ||
| Jupiter ☾ ∅ | Saturn ☾ ∅ | Uranus ☾ ∅ | Neptune ☾ ∅ | ||||
| Dwarf planets | Ceres | Pluto ☾ | Haumea ☾ | Makemake | |||
| Eris ☾ | |||||||
| Small Solar System bodies |
Asteroids (minor planets) |
Groups and families: Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Asteroid belt Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Neptune Trojans · Asteroid moons · Meteoroids · Pallas · Juno · Vesta · Hygiea · Interamnia · Europa |
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| See also the list of asteroids. | |||||||
| Trans- Neptunians |
Kuiper belt – Plutinos: Orcus · Ixion – Cubewanos: Varuna · Quaoar · Huya |
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| Scattered disc: Sedna | |||||||
| Comets | Periodic comets and non-periodic comets Damocloids · Oort cloud |
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| See also the list of solar system objects | |||||||
