"The team analyzed the orbital data of 1,650 Kuiper belt objects and trained an algorithm to identify any clustering. "The kernel was never found alone - whenever the algorithm found the kernel, it found another group as well," Siraj told New Scientist. The inner kernel, as its name suggests, is only slightly closer to us than the originally identified kernel, at 43 astronomical units from the Sun."
"Astronomers have spotted an intriguing cluster of objects in the Kuiper belt, the enormous, donut-shaped region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. As New Scientist reports, it's the second distant structure to have been observed in the far reaches of the solar system. In 2011, researchers discovered a "kernel " of well over 100 Kuiper belt objects at 44 astronomical units from the Sun, or 44 times the distance between the Sun and Earth."
A distinct cluster named the inner kernel has been identified in the Kuiper belt at roughly 43 astronomical units. An analysis of orbital data for 1,650 Kuiper belt objects used an algorithm to detect clustering and found the kernel frequently accompanied by another group. Objects in the inner kernel exhibit orbits unusually aligned with the solar system's plane, unlike many nearby bodies with highly tilted, eccentric orbits. The orbital calmness indicates an ancient, undisturbed structure that can inform models of early solar system evolution and Neptune's migration.
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