"The Kuiper Belt, a region of frozen debris about 30 to 50 times farther from the sun than the Earth is-and perhaps farther, though nobody knows-has been shrouded in mystery since it first came into view in the 1990s. Over the past 30 years, astronomers have cataloged about 4,000 Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), including a smattering of dwarf worlds, icy comets, and leftover planet parts."
"But that number is expected to increase tenfold in the coming years as observations from more advanced telescopes pour in. In particular, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will illuminate this murky region with its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which began operating last year. Other next-generation observatories, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will also help to bring the belt into focus."
The Kuiper Belt occupies space beyond Neptune, containing frozen debris roughly 30 to 50 times farther from the Sun than Earth. Observers have cataloged about 4,000 Kuiper Belt objects, including dwarf planets, icy comets, and leftover planetary fragments. Improved survey capability from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's LSST and instruments like JWST will increase detections by roughly tenfold and fill gaps in current patchwork surveys. Enhanced censuses will enable searches for hidden planets, unusual dynamical structures, and signatures of early solar-system chaos. Anticipated flood of data promises new constraints on formation history and the distribution and dynamics of distant solar-system bodies.
Read at WIRED
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