Kuiper Belt Blog

Kuieper belt is a mainly a large region of space that is filled with 

Beyond the gas giant Neptune lies a region of space filled with icy bodies. Known as the Kuiper Belt, this chilly expanse holds trillions of objects, remnants of the early solar system. Dutch astronomer Jan Oort first proposed in 1950 that some comets might come from the the solar system’s far suburbs. That reservoir later became known as the Oort cloud ..Earlier, in 1943, astronomer Kenneth Edgeworth had suggests comets and larger bodies might exist beyond Neptune. In 1951, astronomer Gerard Kuiper predicted the existence of a belt of icy objects that now bears his name. Some astronomers refer to it as the Edgeworth Kupier Belt.

Discoveries The Kuiper belt was named after Dutch-Americanastronomer Gerard Kuiper, though he did not actually predict its existence. In 1992, 1992 QB₁was discovered, the first Kuiper belt object (KBO) since Pluto.

Soon after Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh on February 18th, 1930, astronomers began to theorize that Pluto was not alone in the outer Solar System. In time, they began to postulate the existence of other objects in the region, which they would discover by 1992. In short, the existence of the Kuiper Belt – a large debris field at the edge of the Solar System – was theorized before it was ever discovered.