Kuiper+Belt

= K u i p e r B e l t: = = Iqra Fida = = = = = = =

= The Kuiper Belt is the most recently observed section of our solar system. it is believed that the Kuiper Belt many have formed when the gravity of Jupiter sent the Kuiper Belt objects to where theya re now. But we still know very little about it due to its distance and movement of its objects. =

**Date of discovery:**
 * The first Kuiper Belt object was discovered from the Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii and the belt was named after the astronomer Gerard Kuiper in 1951.
 * He thought that it existed from a very long time ago and so did the Astronomers Fredrick Leonard, Kenneth Edgeworth, and Julio Fernandez

**Size:**
 * Extends from Neptune's orbit to 3 billion kilometers beyond it

**Composition:**
 * it is said that the surface of the Kuiper Belt objects is similar to that of asteroids around 30 years ago

** Resources & **** Significant and noteworthy features: **
 * Contains icy and rocky objects with organic compounds
 * By 2004 over 800 Kuiper Belt objects had been found
 * The first object in the Kuiper Belt was discovered by the Manau Kea Observatory in Hawaii
 * Scientists considered Pluto to be one of Kuiper Belts largest objects, and it is 2390km across but recently they discovered an object that is larger than the Kuiper Belt, 2003 UB313, they do not knw what its exact size it but they know that it is 20% bigger than Pluto
 * The Kuiper Belt has two major components a cold population (made of objects on orbirts with temprature less than 4 degrees) and a hot population (incliations cna be made as large as 30 degrees)

** What don’t we know / **** Further plans on expeditions: **
 * Have found over 800 Kuiper Belt objects but there are still more to be found
 * still learning about the compositions and compositional differences between the Kuiper Belt objects hoping to discover the different asteriod spectral calsses
 * A NASA mission called New Horizon is being sent to the Juiper built hoping to give us some more information

** Work Cited: **

"[29.01] The Composition of Kuiper Belt Objects." //American Astronomical Society | Advocates for science since 1899//. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. < []>

2004, the year, and over 800 Kuiper belt objects had been. "The Kuiper Belt ." //Edinformatics -- Education for the Information Age//. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. < []>

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