Kuiper Belt – Agreed Terms
“Comets, Meteors and Asteroids” by John Man BBC 2001
“Kuiper Belt
This belt of icy bodies is named after the Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who suggested its existence in 1951. The suggestion became more attractive in 1980, when Julio Fernandez of the National Astronomy Observatory, Madrid, pointed out that most short-period comets orbited in the same plane as the planets, and ought therefore to have their origins in an extension of the disc of dust and gas from which the planets had condensed. For a few years, this remained a theory. Then in the mid 1980s, USA’s Infrared Astronomical Sattelite (IRAS) photographed such a belt around a star in the constellation Pictor. Then, in 1992, David Jewitt and Jane Luu at the University of Hawaii spotted a tiny object, about 320 km (200 miles) across, orbiting beyond Neptune – the first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO).
“Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the Outer Solar System” by Linda T Elkins-Tanton Chelsea House 2006
Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt Objects
“Neptune’s orbit carries the planet from 29.8 to 30.3 AU from the Sun. Small bodies orbiting past Neptune are referred to as trans-Neptunian objects, and then are further sub-divided into members of the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud. Neptune marks the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt was originally thought to reach from 35 to 100 AU from the Sun, and then to merge into the Oort Cloud of icy bodies. . . . . . . there (now) appears to be a gap between the edge of the Kuiper Belt and the beginning of the comet-rich Oort Cloud. The Kuiper Belt begins around 30 AU and has a sharp outer edge at 49 AU.” . . . . . . . . .
“The Kuiper Belt had been postulated since 1943, but it remained a theory until 1992. Only the development of a highly sensitive viewing instrument, called a charge-couple device has allowed astronomers to see the tiny bodies in the Kuiper Belt.” . . . . . . . . .
“Kuiper Belt Bodies are divided into three classes according to their orbits; classical (or cubewano), resonance (or plutino), or scattered disk (object). Classical Kuiper Belt Objects have orbits with low eccentricity and low inclination, indicating that they formed from the solar nebula in place and have not been further perturbed. These objects are sometimes called cubewanos and include any large KBO orbiting between about 41 and 48 AU but not controlled by orbital resonances with Neptune. The name is derived from 1992 QB1, the first KBO found. Subsequent objects were called “que-be-one-os”, or cubewanos. There are about 524 cubewanos known as of 2004. Resonance Kuiper Belt Objects are protected from gravitational perturbation by integral ratios between their orbital periods and Neptune’s. Like Pluto, many KBOs have orbits in periods of 3:2 with Neptune. . . . Because they share their resonance with Pluto, they are called plutinos. As of 2005, there were about 150 plutinos and 22 other resonance objects.” . . . . .
“The third class, scattered disk (Kuiper Belt) objects, have large, eccentric orbits, perhaps created by gravitational interactions with the giant planets. There are about 100 known (2006) scattered disk objects. The KBO 1996TL66 is a good example of this class, with an orbital eccentricity of 0.59 that carries it to 130 AU at aphelion. There are thought to be as many as 10,000 scattered disk objects.”
“Comets Visitors from Deep Space” by David J Eicher Cambridge University Press 2013
“Kuiper Belt
A region of small Solar System bodies beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at about 30 AU from the Sun) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. Named for Dutch American astronomer Gerard P Kuiper.
“Fundamental Planetary Science” by Jack Lissauer and Imke de Pater CUP 2019
“Kuiper Belt
The Kuiper Belt is a thick disk of ice/rock bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. The two largest members of the Kuiper Belt to have been sighted are Eris, whose heliocentric distance oscillates between 38 and 97 AU, and Pluto, whose heliocentric distance varies from 29 to 50 AU. The radii of Eris and Pluto exceed 1000 km.”
“Kuiper Belt Objects
Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) are icy bodies, and the largest KBOs are an order of magnitude more massive than 1 Ceres. The total mass of the Kuiper Belt exceeds that of the Asteroid Belt by about two orders of magnitude. Yet, because the Kuiper Belt is located much further from both the Earth and the Sun than the Asteroid Belt, more is known about asteroids than about KBOs.”
“The Kuiper Belt is also the primary source of the Short Period or Ecliptic Comets (ECs), comets that are on eccentric orbits near the ecliptic plane and return with regularity (orbital periods <200 years) to the inner Solar System.” See Oort Cloud for long-period comets (>~ 10,000 AU
Work in progress Last edit 11th October 2021 11.15 BST..
“Comets, Meteors and Asteroids” by John Man BBC 2001
“Kuiper Belt
This belt of icy bodies is named after the Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who suggested its existence in 1951. The suggestion became more attractive in 1980, when Julio Fernandez of the National Astronomy Observatory, Madrid, pointed out that most short-period comets orbited in the same plane as the planets, and ought therefore to have their origins in an extension of the disc of dust and gas from which the planets had condensed. For a few years, this remained a theory. Then in the mid 1980s, USA’s Infrared Astronomical Sattelite (IRAS) photographed such a belt around a star in the constellation Pictor. Then, in 1992, David Jewitt and Jane Luu at the University of Hawaii spotted a tiny object, about 320 km (200 miles) across, orbiting beyond Neptune – the first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO).
“Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the Outer Solar System” by Linda T Elkins-Tanton Chelsea House 2006
Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt Objects
“Neptune’s orbit carries the planet from 29.8 to 30.3 AU from the Sun. Small bodies orbiting past Neptune are referred to as trans-Neptunian objects, and then are further sub-divided into members of the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud. Neptune marks the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt was originally thought to reach from 35 to 100 AU from the Sun, and then to merge into the Oort Cloud of icy bodies. . . . . . . there (now) appears to be a gap between the edge of the Kuiper Belt and the beginning of the comet-rich Oort Cloud. The Kuiper Belt begins around 30 AU and has a sharp outer edge at 49 AU.” . . . . . . . . .
“The Kuiper Belt had been postulated since 1943, but it remained a theory until 1992. Only the development of a highly sensitive viewing instrument, called a charge-couple device has allowed astronomers to see the tiny bodies in the Kuiper Belt.” . . . . . . . . .
“Kuiper Belt Bodies are divided into three classes according to their orbits; classical (or cubewano), resonance (or plutino), or scattered disk (object). Classical Kuiper Belt Objects have orbits with low eccentricity and low inclination, indicating that they formed from the solar nebula in place and have not been further perturbed. These objects are sometimes called cubewanos and include any large KBO orbiting between about 41 and 48 AU but not controlled by orbital resonances with Neptune. The name is derived from 1992 QB1, the first KBO found. Subsequent objects were called “que-be-one-os”, or cubewanos. There are about 524 cubewanos known as of 2004. Resonance Kuiper Belt Objects are protected from gravitational perturbation by integral ratios between their orbital periods and Neptune’s. Like Pluto, many KBOs have orbits in periods of 3:2 with Neptune. . . . Because they share their resonance with Pluto, they are called plutinos. As of 2005, there were about 150 plutinos and 22 other resonance objects.” . . . . .
“The third class, scattered disk (Kuiper Belt) objects, have large, eccentric orbits, perhaps created by gravitational interactions with the giant planets. There are about 100 known (2006) scattered disk objects. The KBO 1996TL66 is a good example of this class, with an orbital eccentricity of 0.59 that carries it to 130 AU at aphelion. There are thought to be as many as 10,000 scattered disk objects.”
“Comets Visitors from Deep Space” by David J Eicher Cambridge University Press 2013
“Kuiper Belt
A region of small Solar System bodies beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at about 30 AU from the Sun) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. Named for Dutch American astronomer Gerard P Kuiper.
“Fundamental Planetary Science” by Jack Lissauer and Imke de Pater CUP 2019
“Kuiper Belt
The Kuiper Belt is a thick disk of ice/rock bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. The two largest members of the Kuiper Belt to have been sighted are Eris, whose heliocentric distance oscillates between 38 and 97 AU, and Pluto, whose heliocentric distance varies from 29 to 50 AU. The radii of Eris and Pluto exceed 1000 km.”
“Kuiper Belt Objects
Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) are icy bodies, and the largest KBOs are an order of magnitude more massive than 1 Ceres. The total mass of the Kuiper Belt exceeds that of the Asteroid Belt by about two orders of magnitude. Yet, because the Kuiper Belt is located much further from both the Earth and the Sun than the Asteroid Belt, more is known about asteroids than about KBOs.”
“The Kuiper Belt is also the primary source of the Short Period or Ecliptic Comets (ECs), comets that are on eccentric orbits near the ecliptic plane and return with regularity (orbital periods <200 years) to the inner Solar System.” See Oort Cloud for long-period comets (>~ 10,000 AU
Work in progress Last edit 11th October 2021 11.15 BST..
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