Our universe is very vast and unique in its fashion. Outside our planet, Earth resides a lot of fascinating objects and phenomena that make our minds amazed to ponder about. With each of Science’s advancement steps, something new and vigilant is getting discovered to showcase what this universe is all about. One such discovery is the one of the Kuiper Belt.
The Kuiper Belt is a circumstellar, donut-shaped large disc that comprises many icy objects, dwarf planets, and even small-ranged comets. It is similar to the Asteroid Belt but it is much larger and bigger. This Belt was first hypothesized when Pluto was discovered by scientist Clyde Tombaugh in the Lowell Observatory. Scientists continued their research to find more fascinating objects. At that period, they considered Pluto as the 9th planet of our solar system. But as they continued their research, they found more celestial objects that had very similar structures, body formation, and orbital features like Pluto. Such objects are Eris, MakeMake, Hauemea, and many more, which were later discovered. These objects were later classified as ‘Dwarf Planets’.
From the discovery of Dwarf Planets, scientists started to notice that these objects were getting discovered close to Neptune’s orbit. Not only dwarf planets, but other objects like binaries, asteroids, and even comets were seen as well. Then these objects were termed ‘Trans-Neptunian Objects’. In 1952, Scientist Gerrard Kuiper finally hypothesized that there might be a disc where these objects constantly revolve following our planets’ orbits. Also, scientist Kenneth Edgeworth had a different theory, which was important but not true according to the findings of the dwarf planets.
Later on, in 1992, scientist David Jewitt along with his student Jane Luu conducted searches for the first ever Trans-Neptunian object, namely ‘1992 QB1’. They did more searches and found more objects. Then they confirmed that it was Kuiper’s theory, which they deemed preferable. More scientists were eager to research as they finally discovered other dwarf planets like Makemake, Haumea, and Eris. It was found that the Kuiper Belt was mostly contained with icy objects like binaries and comets. And through that, the objects that were found in that disc were named ‘Kuiper Belt Objects’(KBOs).
The discovery of the Kuiper Belt was very important for a variety of reasons. Such one is that Pluto could then be proved that it was not a planet, but a dwarf planet. When scientists discovered Pluto out of nowhere, they were very astonished and they had doubts about its size. As the Kuiper Belt was discovered, many more dwarf planets were discovered as well, which had similar features to Pluto. But then again rose another question. According to Astrophysics, these dwarf planets were situated after Neptune’s orbit, after the Asteroid belt, and before the Oort Cloud. This hypothesized another theory of a 9th Planet. Because an entity has to exist to logically defy the question of having so many dwarf planets originating from the Kuiper Belt. But yet, no such planet has been found to answer this mystery.
Many short-timed comets have been seen emanating from the Kuiper Belt zone. The theory of it also resonates with this factor. Many icy objects and other findings gave scientists information about our outer solar system. Comets that can be seen in a century are also seen from our Earth, as the Kuiper Belt gives explanations about such phenomena.
Searches are still going on about a 9th planet, thanks to the Kuiper Belt. The first mission to explore the Kuiper Belt was ‘New Horizons’, where in 1982, NASA’s Pioneer-10 Spacecraft was sent to get data about that disc. It was seen that many icy objects revolved around Neptune’s orbit. Also, scientists discovered that ‘Arrokoth’, a binary object is the last object discovered in our last horizon of the Kuiper Belt. Constantly, dwarf planets are seen from the powerful telescopes of the world-renowned observatories. But detecting planets from those is quite a difficult task to complete. Yet one day, we really might find a new planet that will complete the mystery of our solar system and we hope that the Kuiper Belt will be its reason to do so.
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Writer,
Abrar Mahir
Content Writing Department
YSSE