2007-01-02 01:41:20 · 6 answers · asked by sondrasonson 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
i was upset that pluto lost its planet status but over time i got over it
The Kuiper (pronounced Ki-Per) Belt is often called our Solar System's 'final frontier.' This disk-shaped region of icy debris is about 4.5 to 7.5 billion km (2.8 billion to 4.6 billion miles), 30 to 50 Astronomical Units (AU). from our Sun. Its existence confirmed only a decade ago, the Kuiper Belt and its collection of icy objects - KBOs - are an emerging area of research in planetary science.
No spacecraft has ever traveled to the Kuiper Belt, but NASA's New Horizons mission, planned to arrive at Pluto in 2015, might be able to penetrate farther into the Kuiper Belt to study one of these mysterious objects.
2007-01-02 02:11:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Kuiper Belt is an enormous mass of asteroids that orbit the Sun.
Their orbit extends from Neptune to well beyond Pluto's orbit.
As members of the Kuiper Belt approach Neptune they are often pulled out of their usual orbit and plunge toward the gas giants or even the Sun.
Most, if not all, comets are considered to have originated in the Kuiper Belt. But in order to be a comet you must have lots of water and other ices to create the comet's tail.
Just living in the Kuiper Belt does not guarantee you have ices. Some are stoney, others have metals like iron too.
The Kuiper Belt is not a ring as others have suggested. It is a massive sphere.
The farthest edge of the Kuiper Belt is at the limit of our Sun's gravity. So the Kuiper Belt is the outermost place in our solar system.
Beyond the Kuiper Belt is considered intergalactic space. Voyager one and two are out there now. Still sending data about the limits of our solar system.
2007-01-02 02:22:31 · answer #2 · answered by T K 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Kuiper Belt is a ring of icy comet-like objects surrounding our solar system. It is believed that many comets come from there when something disturbs them and sends them into the center or the solar system. And in a few million years, a small dwarf star will pass through the edge of the Kuiper belt, knocking millions of comets into the solar system and probably killing anyone who may still be here.
2007-01-02 01:45:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
disk shaped belt of billions of small icy bodies orbiting the sun beyond the orbit of neptune,mostly at a distances of30-50times earths distance from sun. gerard kuiper proposed the existence of this large flattened distribution of flattened objects in 1951 in connection with his theory of evolution of solar system
2007-01-02 01:59:24 · answer #4 · answered by anonymous 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
A large ring of space rocks orbiting the Sun located towards the outside of the Solar System.
2007-01-02 01:45:41 · answer #5 · answered by tHEwISE 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It's an asteroid belt that pluto has become a part.
2007-01-02 01:53:14 · answer #6 · answered by Surveyor 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋