Sunday, November 17, 2013

KBOs: Kuiper Belt Objects

The Kuiper Belt is filled with various objects varying in size and composition. The most famous being the sadly demoted dwarf planet, Pluto. Pluto is currently the largest known KBO (Edit: Pluto is not the largest KBO. Several objects and dwarf planets, such as Eris, are larger.)  , but there are other objects of notable size, such as Quaoar, Eris, and Haumea. Some KBO's also possess satellites, such as Pluto and Haumea. Apart from these objects, the Kuiper Belt is largely composed of comets, which are a mixture of frozen water, ammonia, and hydrocarbons. While it isn't known exactly how many KBOs are drifting around the Kuiper Belt, scientists estimate the number to be around 70,000, with only a small fraction being known.

Source: Kuiper Belt, by Abby Cessna, http://www.universetoday.com/32515/

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