• Key Information

  • Kuiper Belt

  • Type
    Asteroid Belt in the Outer Solar System
  • Diameter
    30 to 50 AU
  • Mass
    1% of earth
  • Sections
    Plutinos, Cubewanos, Twotinos
  • Other Names
    Edgeworth–Kuiper Belt
  • Learning Point
  • The Kuiper Belt is a region of space from Neptune up to about 50 astronomical units (AU) out from the sun which contains many smaller asteroids and dwarf planets. Pluto is now included in this group of objects, and two have been visited by spacecraft in recent years.
  • Project
  • Identify how many tran-Neptunian objects (TNO) or Kuiper belt Objects (KBO) there are known to be, and how many people think there are.
  • Location
  • Located in
    Our Solar System
  • Fun Facts
  • Like Ceres was one of many undiscovered smaller objects when it was found, Pluto has similarly been one of many simialr sized objects in our Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune.
  • Many KBOs have an orbit of around 200 years, but their total mass is less than a few percent of Earth's mass.
  • Pluto was the first KBO to be discovered in 1930, and more than 2,000 are known at the present.
  • New Horizons visited Pluto and Arrokoth (also called Ultima Thule), the only KBOs to be visited so far.