The Kuiper Belt: A Realm of Icy Objects

The Kuiper Belt is a vast region beyond Neptune filled with icy bodies.
It stretches from about 30 to 55 astronomical units from the Sun.
Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris are famous Kuiper Belt objects.
The belt is thought to be the source of many short-period comets.
Objects here are remnants from the solar system’s early formation.
The Kuiper Belt is similar to the asteroid belt but much larger and icier.
Some Kuiper Belt objects have moons, like Pluto and its companion Charon.
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft gave us our first close-up view of Pluto.
In 2019, New Horizons also visited Arrokoth, a contact binary in the belt.
Studying the Kuiper Belt helps scientists understand how planets and solar systems form.