Neptune on tiptoes
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 10:01
in Astronomy & Space
(PhysOrg.com) -- The formation and development of the solar system, long a topic of study for philosophers and scientists, is today often used as a case study for the formation and development of planetary systems around other stars. One probe of the early history of the solar system is the current configuration of the Kuiper Belt, a disc-shaped region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune that stretches between about thirty to fifty astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. Pluto and Eris are the best known Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), and there are thought to be as many as one hundred thousand bodies larger in diameter than about 100 km out there.