Dwarf Planets Are Planets Too: Get Involved! Jun 24, 2008
Earth, for example, would not be considered a planet if it orbited the Sun beyond Neptune, because its gravitational influence would be insufficient to clear out the Kuiper Belt. Definitions based on origin are problematic because we can rarely determine how an object formed, especially if its outside the solar system. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
RELATED: Large 'Planet X' may lurk beyond Pluto Jun 20, 2008
The hidden world thought to be much bigger than Pluto based on the model could explain unusual features of the Kuiper Belt, a region of space beyond Neptune littered with icy and rocky bodies ... The Kuiper Belt contains many peculiar features that can't be explained by standard solar system models ... According to the model, Sedna and other Kuiper Belt oddities could be explained by a world 30 to 70% as massive as Earth orbiting between 100 AU and 200 AU from the sun. (USA Today -- Tech)
No peace over Pluto Jun 14, 2008
Alan Stern is principal investigator for the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. There is no equivalent issue in the rest of astronomy. (MSNBC)
'Non-planet' Pluto gets new class Jun 13, 2008
They relegated Pluto to a grouping that includes Ceres (the largest asteroid), and Eris, an object slightly larger than Pluto that orbits even further out from the Sun in an icy region known as the Kuiper Belt. The IAU's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature has now decided that dwarf planets that move beyond Neptune should be placed in a new sub-category, the plutoid. (BBC News -- Science)
Pluto Finally Gets Some Respect. Sort Of. Jun 13, 2008
In 1992, astronomers David Jewitt and Jane Luu of the University of Hawaii discovered the first of what are now known to be more than 1,000 orbiting the sun beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt ... It was the third requirement that doomed Pluto: Pluto now falls into the dwarf planet category on account of its size and the fact that it resides within a zone of other similarly-sized objects known as the Kuiper Belt, the explains on its website ... With only the two members so far, its not... (Newsweek)
Astronomers name dwarf planets after Pluto Jun 12, 2008
"It seems like a reasonable decision to me, and given the excitement generated by [a NASA probe headed for Pluto], it's in everyone's interest to favor the largest Kuiper belt objects with their own categorical designation," said Gregory Laughlin, an extrasolar-planet researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz ... "So Pluto is a Kuiper belt object, a plutino (the unofficial but nearly universally accepted name for objects in the 2:3 resonance with Neptune), a dwarf planet, and now... (MSNBC -- Technology)
Cosmic Graffiti Jun 5, 2008
If a significant enough number of such autonomous tractors were sent out over many years to form a fleet in the outer solar system - programmed to operate even if the civilisation that made them expires - it could alter the trajectories of the larger of Kuiper belt objects to form an unnatural graphstellation that would be recognised as such by intelligent life in another galaxy. All we'd need is for extraterrestrials to read the writing on the cosmic wall. (India Times, India)
Storm Winds Blow In Jupiter's Little Red Spot May 22, 2008
The spacecraft will study and swing past Jupiter, increasing speed on its voyage toward Pluto, the Kuiper Belt. (Nov. (Science Daily)
Is Rekindling the Pluto Planet Debate a Good Idea? Apr 11, 2008
At roughly a fifth the mass of the moon, it is the largest of the icy bodies that make up the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune's orbit. Unlike the four inner (terrestrial) planets, it has a tenuous atmosphere at best. (Scientific American)
Mirror Construction Begins Mar 19, 2008
LSST backers say it will excel at detecting potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, exploding supernovae and distant Kuiper Belt objects. It also will cause problems, producing massive piles of images that will have to be stored and analyzed. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Our years on Earth are numbered - all 7.59 billion of them Mar 15, 2008
The heat from this death rattle will transform the solar system; it will briefly be springtime in the Kuiper Belt out beyond Neptune. Mercury and Venus will surely be swallowed, but the Earth's fate has always been more uncertain. (International Herald Tribune -- Health)
Japanese scientists eye new planet Feb 28, 2008
Pluto was discovered by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 in the so-called Kuiper belt, a chain of icy debris in the outer reaches of the solar system. In 2006, nearly a decade after Tombaugh's death, the International Astronomical Union ruled the celestial body was merely a dwarf planet in the cluttered Kuiper belt. (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Astronomers: Earth-Like Planets May Be Very Common Feb 19, 2008
A vast ring of small objects beyond Pluto, called the Kuiper Belt, is now seen as the outer solar system, Stern said ... The Oort Cloud's located even beyond the Kuiper Belt, although the distinction between the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud is coming into question among scientists, Stern said. (FOXNews)
Potentially Habitable Planets Are Common, Study Says Feb 19, 2008
At the briefing, scientists also advanced the possibility that our solar system contains hundreds or even thousands more like Pluto, hidden from view in the distant region known as the Kuiper belt. There is a growing body of evidence that the poorly understood region contains several Earth- or Mars-size planets and many tinier bodies, said NASA planetary scientist Alan Stern, adding that this could very well be a "new Copernican revolution" in our understanding of planets. (National Geographic)
'Hundreds of worlds' in Milky Way Feb 18, 2008
More than a thousand objects had already been discovered in the Kuiper belt alone, he said, many rivalling the planet Pluto in size. "Our old view, that the Solar System had nine planets will be supplanted by a view that there are hundreds if not thousands of planets in our Solar System," he told BBC News. (BBC News -- Science)
Hopes rise for finding alien Earths Feb 18, 2008
A vast ring of small objects beyond Pluto, called the Kuiper Belt, is now seen as the outer solar system, Stern said ... That cloud of ice and dust is located even beyond the Kuiper Belt, Stern said, although the distinction between the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud is coming into question among scientists. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Astronomers discover 'new planet' Feb 17, 2008
Although Sedna could be a so-called Kuiper Belt object, its discoverers are unsure if it is as they consider it to be unlike any other object yet found ... KUIPER BELT OBJECTS Icy planetary bodies that orbit beyond Neptune in the distant region of the Solar System More than 400 such objects are currently known They are believed to be remnants of the formation of the Solar System and among the most primitive objects available for study. (BBC News)
Stardust Comet Dust Resembles Asteroid Materials Jan 30, 2008
By comparing the Stardust samples to cometary interplanetary dust particles (CP IDPs), the team found that two silicate materials normally found in cometary IDPs, together with other primitive materials including presolar stardust grains from other stars, have not been found in the abundances that might be expected in a Kuiper Belt comet like Wild 2 ... The surprising findings contradict researchers initial expectations for a comet that spent most of its life orbiting in the Kuiper Belt, beyond... (Science Daily)
Bits of comet surprise scientists Jan 26, 2008
Curiously, Ishii said, the comet's dust does not include many of the metals that scientists had expected to find in an object that must have been formed long ago close to the solar system and later was flung far out into a region called the Kuiper Belt. Most scientists, she said, had expected to find a treasure trove of the solar system's most primitive material, but it's not there in comet Wild-2. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
Comet Built Like an Asteroid, Scientists Find Jan 25, 2008
A chemical analysis of the Stardust samples resembled objects from the inner s asteroid belt instead of the pristine and ancient materials expected to be deep-frozen in the much more distant Kuiper Belt, beyond , said Hope Ishii, the California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist who led the research. "The first surprise was that we found inner solar system materials, and the second surprise was that we didn't find outer solar system materials," Ishii said. (National Geographic)
Stardust Formed Close To Sun Jan 9, 2008
Earlier research showed that the comet formed in the Kuiper Belt, outside the orbit of Neptune, and only recently entered the inner regions of the solar system. Wild 2 spent most of its life orbiting in the Kuiper Belt, far beyond Neptune, and in 1974 had a close encounter with Jupiter that placed it into its current orbit. (Science Daily)
Comet Wild 2 parts formed near sun Jan 5, 2008
Earlier research showed that the comet formed in the Kuiper Belt, outside the orbit of Neptune, and only recently entered the inner regions of the solar system. But during its lifetime, Wild 2 gathered material that formed much closer to the sun. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
U of M physicist reads the history of the solar system in grains of comet dust Jan 4, 2008
Comet Wild-2 (pronounced Vilt-two) is thought to have originated in the Kuiper Belt, a comet-rich region stretching from just inside the orbit of Neptune to well beyond Pluto. As it grew in this roughly -360 F region, it incorporated grains of dust and ambient gas. (EurekAlert!)
The outer solar system remains mysterious Jan 1, 2008
Why the rainbow of colors in the Kuiper belt. For instance, the Kuiper belt past Neptune is currently the suspected that only take a few decades or at most centuries to complete their solar orbits so-called "short-period comets." Surprisingly, Kuiper belt objects "show a wide range of colors neutral or even slightly blue all the way to very red," said University of Hawaii astrophysicist David Jewitt ... It remains a mystery why Kuiper belt objects show a much wider range of color and... (MSNBC -- Technology)
The enduring mysteries of comets Dec 27, 2007
Calculations then showed it was highly improbable that enough icy rocks from the suspected homes of comets the Kuiper belt past Neptune and the Oort cloud past that could have collided with Earth to supply its oceans ... The suspected homes of comets include the Oort cloud, the Kuiper belt and now the asteroid belt ... About 20 years ago, the Kuiper belt roughly 4. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Solving solar system quandaries is simple: Just flip-flop the position of Uranus and Neptune Dec 12, 2007
It explains several aspects about the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, as well as the Kuiper Belt of comets beyond, by assuming the giant planets formed a lot closer together than theyre found today. Neptune, for example, formed less than half the distance from the Sun that it orbits today. (EurekAlert!)
Giant comet awes UH scientists Nov 12, 2007
It's believed these objects orbited the sun beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt region for most of the last 4. 5 billion years, they said. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
On the way to Pluto, craft explores Jupiter's embarrassment of riches Oct 15, 2007
It will reach Pluto in July 2015, according to mission scientists, before hurtling deep into the mysterious Kuiper belt of "icy rocky objects" on the solar system's far frontier. Colin Nickerson can be reached at. (Boston Globe)
Spotlight on New Horizons Oct 13, 2007
Although the meeting's topics cover everything from Mercury to the Kuiper Belt and even the planets of other stars the focus of this one has been what's new and exciting in the more distant regions of our solar system. This week researchers are presenting results from the scrutiny paid by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft when it passed Jupiter earlier this year. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Spacecraft sees changes in Jupiter system Oct 10, 2007
It will fly past Pluto and its moons in July 2015 before heading deeper into the Kuiper belt of icy rocky objects on the planetary frontier. Editor: Yan Liang. (Xinhuanet, China)
Living in Space, Part 6 Satellite Exploration: The Outer Planets Oct 2, 2007
Originally designed to last five years, both probes are still functioning beyond the orbit of Neptune in the Kuiper belt, where Pluto and Eris are ... On Jan. 19, 2006, The New Horizons probe was launched to explore Pluto, its moons, and, possibly, other objects in the Kuiper Belt. (Danvers Herald, MA)
Planning for the JWST Sep 29, 2007
Jewitt pointed out that discoveries in just the last few decades, such as the 1992 discovery of the Kuiper Belt Objects, "changed the way we think about our solar system.". "For some of us the JWST is that dream telescope," said Alan Dressler of the Carnegie Observatories. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Astronomers eager to add to Sky in Google Earth UCB, Sep. 06 Sep 7, 2007
Targeted for completion by 2017, the telescope would allow the study of objects - supernovae, potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids, and distant Kuiper Belt Objects - that change or move on rapid timescales. "LSST answers the question, How do you do 21st century astronomy?" Bloom said. (University of California Newswire, CA)
Jupiter: Friend Or Foe? Aug 26, 2007
Their orbits are controlled by Jupiter and they are believed to originate from the Kuiper Belt, a vast population of small icy bodies that orbit just beyond Neptune. Famous JFCs include Comet 81P/Wild 2, which was encountered by the Stardust spacecraft in January 2004 and Comet Shoemaker Levy-9, which broke up and collided with Jupiter in July 1994. (Science Daily)
Jupiter's protective pull questioned Aug 25, 2007
The system also contained 100,000 centaurs large, icy bodies from the Solar System's Kuiper belt, within which Pluto lies. After running their models for 10 million virtual years, Horner and Jones found some striking results. (Nature.com (subscription))
Why So Lopsided? Jul 27, 2007
of California, Berkeley) In the issue of Sky cope, Mark Littmann's article "From Chaos to the Kuiper Belt" (page 28) explains how astronomers believe that the outer planets of our solar system were pushed around by countless encounters with planetesimals. During this planetary migration, there was a period when the orbits of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune became. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Charon: An Ice Machine In The Ultimate Deep Freeze Jul 22, 2007
This discovery could have profound implications for other similar-type worlds in the Kuiper Belt, which is the region of the solar system that extends out beyond the orbit of Neptune and contains a number of small bodies, the largest of which include Pluto and Charon ... By contrast, Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) such as Charon, Quaoar, Orcus, and others are not tidally squeezed ... The next step is to get better spectra of other Kuiper Belt Objects such as Quaoar and Orcus. (Science Daily)
Ice Volcanoes Everywhere? Jul 21, 2007
In the and a paper in the group touts "the best evidence yet for the existence of ammonia hydrates on Kuiper Belt objects." Just like on Earth, ammonia acts as antifreeze and depresses the melting point of the water. Putting the pieces together, heat from decaying radioactive elements deep inside Charon warm the subsurface ice. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Odd form of space debris needles Keck scientists Jul 20, 2007
The sun has a collection of debris out past the orbit of Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. The blue needle disk starts about the same distance from HD15115 but, because of its extremely elliptical orbit, extends 10 times farther than the Kuiper Belt, Keck said. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Blue halo around star may hint at other planets Jul 20, 2007
Debris disks are similar to the Kuiper Belt in our solar system, the region beyond the orbit of Neptune that is populated with hundreds of icy, rocky objects (of which Pluto is one). The disk around HD 15115 begins at about the same distance from its star that the Kuiper Belt does from our sun, but extends about 10 times further to at least 550 AU. One AU is equal to the distance between Earth and the sun ... In the same way that Neptune's gravity can affect Kuiper Belt Objects, planets close to... (MSNBC -- Technology)
Pluto's Moon Charon Is Slow Ice Machine Jul 19, 2007
The new findings suggest ammonia hydrates, and thus liquid water, might exist on other Kuiper Belt objects. "I think it has to be out there," Cook said. (Fox News)
SpongeBob MoonPants Jul 6, 2007
As to what the object might have been that struck Hyperion, Cruickshank notes that the same reddish gunk can also be found on other icy objects in the outer solar system, including other moons, Kuiper Belt objects and comets. Copyright. (Fox News)
Scientists solve mystery of space sponge Jul 5, 2007
As to what the object might have been that struck Hyperion, Cruickshank notes that the same reddish gunk can also be found on other icy objects in the outer solar system, including other moons, Kuiper Belt objects and comets. 2007 Space. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Dawn to shed light on asteroid belt Jul 3, 2007
The Kuiper belt (beyond Pluto) and the asteroid belt are two of the unexplored frontiers of the solar system. Carol Raymond believes the mission has an even greater importance -- one that goes beyond learning the origins of the solar system. (Daytona Beach News Journal)
Dwarf Planet Eris Is More Massive Than Pluto Jun 19, 2007
The object was discovered by astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech in the outer reaches of the Kuiper belt in 2005. Dwarf Planet Eris and satellite Dysnomia (Credit: NASA, ESA, and Mike Brown, (California Institute Of Technology)). (Science Daily)
Giant KBO Eris more Massive than Pluto Jun 18, 2007
the giant Kuiper belt object (KBO) named for the Greek goddess of discord, is staying true to its name and once more stirring up the placid community of planetary scientists ... This was Plutos last chance to be the biggest thing found so far in the Kuiper belt, Brown said; these new results show that its second place at best for Pluto. (The Planetary Society)
Sorry Pluto, you're not even biggest dwarf planet Jun 17, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Poor Pluto has been demoted again. It (Eris) just is more massive than Pluto. (Reuters.uk)
Demoted Pluto Takes a Blow as Neighbor Deemed Bigger (Update1) Jun 17, 2007
It orbits in a path that crosses Neptune's and has a gravitational mass too weak to knock other objects out of its neighborhood, the Kuiper Belt. The planet's classification had been contested since it was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh because it was smaller than the eight other planets -- and smaller than Earth's moon -- and had an elliptical orbit around the sun. (Bloomberg)
Poor Pluto not even largest dwarf planet Jun 17, 2007
Michael Brown and Emily Schaller at California Institute of Technology reported in the June 15 issue of journal Science that Pluto's neighbor Eris, another dwarf planet in the same Kuiper belt, is about 27 percent more massive than Pluto. They determined that Eris is now the largest, most massive known dwarf planet. (Xinhuanet, China)
It's Official: Eris Outweighs Pluto Jun 16, 2007
That's 27% more massive than Pluto, so Eris ranks as both the largest known member of the Kuiper Belt and the most massive dwarf planet. Writing about their result in the June 15th issue of Brown and Schaller also report that deep Hubble observations rule out any other moons in the system larger than about 50 km (30 miles) across. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Another blow to Pluto's pride: New dwarf planet bigger, heavier Jun 16, 2007
" "And a little colder," said Schaller -- less than 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Eris is also really far away, he and Schaller said -- flying on a long, highly elliptical orbit around the sun that takes 560 years to complete. It is about 9 billion miles from the sun right now, and on its closest approach it will still be more than 3.5 billion miles out -- 38 times farther than Earth. When Brown and his colleagues first discovered Eris, they playfully named it Xena, after TV's warrior... (San Francisco Chronicle)
The planet club Jun 16, 2007
1992 - First large object found in the Kuiper Belt, a mass of comets and rocks that sits on the outer edge of the solar system. 2003 - A Kuiper belt object called 2003 UB313 (later re-named Eris) seen by astronomers and measured to be of a similar size to Pluto, re-igniting debate over whether Pluto should be defined as a planet. (Guardian Unlimited -- Life)
Dwarf planet found to be heftier than Pluto Jun 15, 2007
Pluto, traditionally known as the ninth planet of our Solar System, sits in a giant zone called the Kuiper belt that is filled with asteroids and many other planetary bodies ... 3 grams per cubic centimetre, which compares well with that of Pluto and other large Kuiper belt objects ... And it basically makes it impossible for anything in the Kuiper belt to qualify. (Nature News Service)
Pluto demoted again: this time to "second-largest dwarf planet" Jun 15, 2007
Pluto, which at the time was the furthest planet from the Sun, was not included in either group due to its small size and isolated location within the Kuiper Belt a ring of frozen, rocky objects between the orbit of Neptune and extending past the orbit of Pluto. Pluto stayed a planet because there was really no need to change anything. (iTWire)
Dwarf planet Eris outweighs Pluto Jun 15, 2007
At the time, it was assumed that Pluto was the largest of these so-called dwarf planets, but now comes word that Pluto runs a distant second to Eris, a similar astral body in the Kuiper belt. In order to determine Eris' mass, the researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory to calculate the orbital speed of its moon, Dysnomia. (Xinhuanet, China)
Puny Pluto: Not even biggest dwarf Jun 15, 2007
Because Eris and Dysomnia are located more than 90 times farther from the sun than Earth out in the Kuiper Belt region of the solar system they appear as little more than pricks of light in telescope observations. Dysnomia is thought to be less than 100 miles (150 km) across and to take about 16 Earth-days to make one trip around Eris. (USA Today -- Tech)
Dwarf planet discovery knocks Pluto back a notch Jun 15, 2007
At the time, it was assumed that Pluto was the largest of these so-called dwarf planets, but now comes word that Pluto runs a distant second to Eris, a similar astral body in the Kuiper belt ... "This was Pluto's last chance to be the biggest thing found so far in the Kuiper belt," said Michael Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology. (ABC News Online, Australia -- Sci-Tech)
> read more May 26, 2007
Having our solar system come together in a crowded stellar neighborhood might also explain why a growing number of objects in the distant Kuiper Belt, such as 90377 Sedna, have swollen, highly elongated orbits that can't be explained by planetary interactions long ago. Most likely, dynamicists say, a star drifted through the Sun's immediate neighborhood early in solar system history and the Kuiper Belt. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Incredible new images from Jupiter show volcanic eruption... May 3, 2007
In about eight years, the mission will produce the closest-ever views of Pluto and the hundreds of other icy objects in the distant Kuiper belt region. Io surface changes seen by New Horizons when compared with the surface of Io seen by the Galileo spacecraft in 1999. (The Drudge Report)
Craft to Pluto gleans new details about Jupiter May 3, 2007
" New Horizons is now flying through the center of the magnetotail and gathering more details on its intense flux of radiation, something that no other spacecraft has ever done. The spacecraft was launched less than 15 months ago, and it flew past Jupiter to get a boost from that massive planet's gravity -- it increased its speed relative to the sun from 51,000 to 60,000 mph, enough velocity to reach Pluto's neighborhood by July 2015 without any extra propulsion on its own. Pluto, recently... (San Francisco Chronicle)
NASA's probe shows Jupiter up close and personal May 2, 2007
In about eight years, the mission will produce the closest-ever views of Pluto and the hundreds of other icy objects in the distant Kuiper belt region. But for now, the NASA scientists are happy with the test drive. (Scientific American)
+ View Archives Apr 27, 2007
07 - Volcanic Plume on Io NASA's New Horizons spacecraft launches on mission to visit Pluto, its moon Charon and the Kuiper Belt. 12. (NASA News)
Kuiper-belt Object Was Broken Up By Massive Impact 4.5 Billion Years Ago Mar 24, 2007
2003 EL61 (as shown in this computer-generated image) is the third-largest known dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, the region of space beyond Neptune that contains the larger dwarf planets Eris and Pluto as well as thousands of smaller objects. (Credit: Image courtesy of Michael E. Brown, California Institute of Technology). (Science Daily)
A Family in Space Mar 19, 2007
It's the first "family" of objects ever discovered in the Kuiper belt, which is a vast ring of rocky and icy bodies that orbit the sun beyond Neptune ... It is about as wide as Pluto, which is also part of the Kuiper belt ... Someone standing on an object in the Kuiper belt might be able to look up and see a scene like this one. (Science News for Kids)
In the early solar system, 'Santa' had a blast Mar 19, 2007
But the comet-rich Kuiper belt must have thinned quickly, or else the detected fragments would have disappeared after more collisions ... Finally, it calls into question the notion that "space weathering" has occurred on some other objects in the Kuiper Belt, such as the dwarf planet Eris, also discovered by Brown's team. (USA Today -- Tech)
