In the temperate latitudes of our little terrestrial home, there is a large unexplored portion of the world just waiting to be discovered. In this particular case, I'm referring to a region in our solar system where few have traveled and even fewer have thoroughly explored, called the Kuiper Belt.
Unfortunately for early astronomers, it took decades before it was even noticed. The belt itself is a vast region of small, icy objects – both primordial and fragments from the processes that formed the solar system – orbiting around our sun beyond Neptune's orbit.
In fact, there are more than 70,000 known objects in this remote domain. Consequently, it wasn't until 1992 when astronomer James Christy realized he had discovered a new planet, which would later come to be known as "Pluto".
The first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) was found by David Jewitt and Jane Luu in 1992. It's called "Loki" and is some 60 miles wide. The largest KBO found is about 500 miles wide, with a handful of larger ones a little over a mile.
One of the most interesting aspects to this region is its dynamic nature, and very few objects orbit in a circular path as all KBOs are influenced by Neptune's gravity and thus, some end up on highly elliptical orbits that bring them closer and farther from the sun. Also, their surfaces reveal many clues as to what occurred billions of years ago when our solar system was first forming.
Similar to asteroids, these bodies vary greatly in size. However, unlike comets (the other inhabitants of this realm), KBOs will never be visible with an amateur telescope due to their extremely low reflective properties and small sizes (most only visible on professional telescopes).
Our solar system is like a vast ocean and the Kuiper Belt is like a mysterious island waiting to be explored. There are so many unanswered questions that come from studying these objects such as:
What is their composition compared to other members of our solar system?
Are there any larger objects yet to be discovered such as an Earth sized object or even a dwarf planet?
How did they get into this region? Were they leftovers from when our solar system was created 4.6 billion years ago? Or, were they born in this belt and flung outward over time by Neptune's gravitational influence?"
The list goes on and on and we can only answer them through dedicated studies of these fascinating objects. It may take decades to answer every question but the payoff is well worth it. That's why I say the Kuiper Belt is like a vast frontier. Who knows what we'll discover in the future?
I didn't even know that there's even something called the kuiper belt, judging from the article I guess we really haven't even understood the vastness of the universe