The Solar System: The Kuiper Belt
The objects in the asteroid belts that are contained within the Solar System affect life on Earth today. These asteroid belts are the main asteroid belt and, the Kuiper Belt. Since these belts contain so many objects, there is diversity present within the objects. The asteroid belts consist of many categories of asteroids, the sizes of which, can vary greatly, ranging from a few meters to miles long. However, the mass of all discovered asteroids is still less than Earth’s mass. This is logical since the main asteroid belt only has the mass of about 4% of the Moon. Together, these belts contain remnants from the early formations of the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago.
The main asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. The …show more content…
One astronomical unit is equivalent to about ninety three million miles. It contains thousands of icy bodies that are larger than 62 miles across. Furthermore, it is the home to trillions of comets. Objects found within the Kuiper Belts are Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). One KBO is a “red colored speck” that was located farther from the Sun than Pluto is, at 44 astronomical units. The object, later known as 1992 QB1, was discovered in 1992. One of the largest, and first, KBO’s is Pluto. Pluto is a dwarf planet that was discovered in 1930. Pluto isn’t very large as it is only about half as wide as the United States. Ordinarily, the days on Pluto take about 6.5 days on Earth and, it takes about 248 years to fully orbit the Sun. Another KBO found to be 10% larger than Pluto was named Eris. Considering it is farther away from the Sun than Pluto is, Eris’ full orbit is equivalent to 560 years. Moreover, the discovery of Eris prompted scientists to question whether to consider it the tenth planet. However, in 2006 they chose to introduce a new category of planetary objects called dwarf planets. Following this, Pluto, Eris, and Ceres were placed into this category. There is also a planet-like transneptunian object which orbits the Sun. It never enters the Kuiper Belt since it is located outside of the Belt’s range. It passes the sun briefly in its 10,500 year orbit. Despite the fact that most of the objects found within both belts are in orbit, some fall out of orbit, and threaten our
The main asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. The …show more content…
One astronomical unit is equivalent to about ninety three million miles. It contains thousands of icy bodies that are larger than 62 miles across. Furthermore, it is the home to trillions of comets. Objects found within the Kuiper Belts are Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). One KBO is a “red colored speck” that was located farther from the Sun than Pluto is, at 44 astronomical units. The object, later known as 1992 QB1, was discovered in 1992. One of the largest, and first, KBO’s is Pluto. Pluto is a dwarf planet that was discovered in 1930. Pluto isn’t very large as it is only about half as wide as the United States. Ordinarily, the days on Pluto take about 6.5 days on Earth and, it takes about 248 years to fully orbit the Sun. Another KBO found to be 10% larger than Pluto was named Eris. Considering it is farther away from the Sun than Pluto is, Eris’ full orbit is equivalent to 560 years. Moreover, the discovery of Eris prompted scientists to question whether to consider it the tenth planet. However, in 2006 they chose to introduce a new category of planetary objects called dwarf planets. Following this, Pluto, Eris, and Ceres were placed into this category. There is also a planet-like transneptunian object which orbits the Sun. It never enters the Kuiper Belt since it is located outside of the Belt’s range. It passes the sun briefly in its 10,500 year orbit. Despite the fact that most of the objects found within both belts are in orbit, some fall out of orbit, and threaten our