“Kuiper Belt”

In Brief

Both Arrokoth (recently visited by NASA's New Horizons mission) and Pluto are in the Kuiper Belt — a donut-shaped region of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. There may be millions of these icy objects, collectively referred to as Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) or trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), in this distant region of our solar system.

Similar to the asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt is a region of leftovers from the solar system's early history. Like asteroid belt, it has also been shaped by a giant planet, although it's more of a thick disk (like a donut) than a thin belt.

The Kuiper Belt shouldn't be confused with the Oort Cloud, which is a much more distant region of icy, comet-like bodies that surrounds the solar system, including the Kuiper Belt. Both the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt are thought to be sources of comets.

The Kuiper Belt is truly a frontier in space -- it's a place we're still just beginning to explore and our understanding is still evolving.

Go farther. Explore the Kuiper Belt In Depth ›

Artist's concept showing the exploration of the Kuiper Belt so far. New Horizons became the first spacecraft to explore a Kuiper Belt Object—dwarf planet Pluto—up close in 2015.

10 Need-to-Know Things About the Kuiper Belt

DISTANT DESTINATION

The Kuiper Belt is a region of space. The known icy worlds and comets in both regions are much smaller than Earth's Moon.

COSMIC DOUGHNUT

The Kuiper Belt is a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects around the Sun, extending just beyond the orbit of Neptune from about 30 to 55 AU.

LONG TRIP

Short-period comets (which take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun) originate in the Kuiper Belt.

BIG COUNT

There may be hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 100 km (62 miles) and an estimated trillion or more comets within the Kuiper Belt.

SPACESUIT REQUIRED

Some dwarf planets within the Kuiper Belt have thin atmospheres that collapse when their orbit carries them farthest from the Sun.

TINY MOONS

Several dwarf planets within the Kuiper Belt have moons.

RING WORLD

Egg-shaped Haumea has a ring around it.

FIRST LOOK

The first mission to explore the Kuiper Belt is New Horizons. It flew past Pluto in 2015 and is on its way to explore another Kuiper Belt world.

COLD AND DARK

It is not clear if worlds in this distant, cold region are not capable of supporting life as we know it.

HYPOTHETICAL PLANET X

Astronomers are searching for a possible planet that might explain the strange orbits of several Kuiper Belt Objects. The nickname: Planet 9.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Kuiper Belt?

The inner edge of the Kuiper Belt begins at the orbit of Neptune, at about 30 AU from the Sun. (1 AU, or astronomical unit, is the distance from Earth to the Sun.)

The inner, main region of the Kuiper belt ends to around 50 AU from the Sun. Overlapping the outer edge of the main part of the Kuiper Belt is a second region called the scattered disk, which continues outward to nearly 1,000 AU, with some bodies on orbits that go even farther beyond.

Comments

SEO - SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

What is SEO? SEO stands for Search engine Optimization , which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results . What goes into SEO? To understand the true meaning of SEO , let's break that definition down and look at the parts: Quality of traffic. You can attract all the visitors in the world, but if they're coming to your site because Google tells them you're a resource for Apple computers when really you're a farmer selling apples, that is not quality traffic. Instead you want to attract visitors who are genuinely interested in products that you offer. Quantity of traffic. Once you have the right people clicking through from those search engine results pages (SERPs), more traffic is better. Organic results . Ads make up a significant portion of many SERPs. Organic traffic is any traffic that you don't have to pay for. Organic search traffic is spe...

OFF PAGE SEO

Off-Page SEO What is off-page SEO? "Off-page SEO " (also called "off-site SEO") refers to actions taken outside of your own website to impact your rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs). Optimizing for off site rankings factor involves improving search engine and user perception of a site's popularity, relevance trustworthiness and authority . This is accomplished by other reputable places on the Internet (pages, sites, people, etc.) linking to or promoting your website, and effectively "vouching" for the quality of your content. Why does off-page SEO matter? While search algorithms and ranking factors are constantly changing, the general consensus within the SEO community is that the relevance, trustworthiness, and authority that effective off-page SEO affords a website still play a major role in a page's ability to rank. While we don't know the full algorithm Google uses to rank content , data from ...

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide But why is social media marketing so important? Why should you spend time creating social media accounts for your business? ? In this guide, we’ll cover the answers to all of these questions — but first, let’s define social media marketing. What Is Social Media Marketing? Benefits of Social Media Marketing Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy Social Media Marketing Resources What is social media marketing? Social media marketing is the action of creating content to promote your business and products on various social media platforms such as Facebook , Instagram, and Twitter. Your unique content should be tailored to the specific platform it’s being shared on to help you boost conversions and increase brand awareness. Social media marketing is all about meeting your target audience and customers where they are and as they socially interact with each other and your brand. While social media marketing as a whole...

SEM- SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): What It Is & How to Do It Right Search engine marketing , or SEM, is one of the most effective ways to grow your business in an increasingly competitive marketplace. With millions of businesses out there all vying for the same eyeballs, it’s never been more important to advertise online, and search engine marketing is the most effective way to promote your products and grow your business. In this guide, you'll learn an overview of search engine marketing basics as well as some tips and strategies for doing search engine marketing right. Search Engine Marketing – An Overview search engine marketing is the practice of marketing a business using paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages (or SERPs ). Advertisers bid on keywords that users of services such as Google and Bing might enter when looking for certain products or services, which gives the advertiser the opportunity for their ads to appear alongside results f...

ON PAGE SEO

On-Page SEO Basics What is On-Page SEO? On-page SEO (also known as “on-site SEO”) is the practice of optimizing web page content for search engines and users. Common on-page SEO practices include optimizing title tags, content, internal links and URLs. This is different from Off page SEO , which is optimizing for signals that happen off of your website (for example, back links ). Why is On-Page SEO Important? Does traditional on-page SEO still make a difference in 2020? Yup! Even though Google is MUCH smarter than it was back in the day, they still use old school stuff (like looking for a specific keyword on your page). And there’s data to back this up. Our analytics of 1M Google Search found a correlation between keyword-rich title tags and first page rankings. And if you search for any competitive keyword, you’ll notice that the top ranking pages almost all use that exact keyword in their title tag. That said: There’s more to on-page SEO than cramming k...

INFOHUB

Search This Blog