kiuper+belt

KIUPER BELT

Extends from 30-55au from the sun similar to asteroid belt, but 20 larger and 20-200 times more massive

Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies (remnants from the Solar System's formation). It is home to at least three dwarf planets – Pluto, Haumea and Makemake. asteroid belt is composed primarily of rock and metal, the Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia and water

discovered in 1992 over 1000 kuiper belt objects have been identified. 70,000 kbo's over 100km are believed to be there

The Kuiper belt was initially believed to be the main repository for periodic comets, those with orbits lasting less than 200 years. studies since the mid-1990s have shown that the Kuiper belt is dynamically stable, and that it is the farther scattered disc, a dynamically active region created by the outward motion of Neptune 4.5 billion years ago, that is their true place of origin

Neptune's moon, triton, is believed to be a captured KBO

about 50 kelvin

primarily composed of ices; a mixture of light hydrocarbons (such as methane), ammonia, and water ice, a composition they share with comets

The upper limit to the total mass is estimated at roughly a tenth the mass of the Earth