Latest astronomical discoveries counsel that our photo voltaic system may very well be a lot bigger than beforehand thought, with the potential existence of a second Kuiper Belt past the one we all know. Utilizing the highly effective Subaru telescope, astronomers have noticed 11 new objects orbiting far past the recognized Kuiper Belt, indicating the presence of a second belt, tentatively named “Kuiper Belt 2.”
What’s the Kuiper Belt?
The Kuiper Belt is a distant area of our photo voltaic system positioned past Neptune, stretching from about 33 to 55 astronomical models (AU). It accommodates icy our bodies and comets that orbit the solar, and it was the first goal for NASA’s New Horizons mission, which famously explored Pluto in 2015.
Past the recognized Kuiper Belt lies an enormous, unexplored area of area, the place scientists now consider extra mysterious objects might exist.
New Discoveries Past the Kuiper Belt
Utilizing Subaru’s Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), scientists found 239 Kuiper Belt objects since 2020. Nonetheless, probably the most vital discovery was 11 objects positioned between 70 and 90 AU from the solar, suggesting the existence of a second, extra distant belt. This new belt may lengthen so far as 13.5 billion kilometers (8.4 billion miles) from the solar.
Notably, there’s a hole between 55 and 70 AU the place no objects have been discovered, additional supporting the concept of a definite second belt.
Implications for Our Understanding of the Photo voltaic System
This discovery may reshape our understanding of how the photo voltaic system shaped. For years, scientists believed that the Kuiper Belt was unusually small in comparison with related belts present in different planetary programs. Nonetheless, the identification of Kuiper Belt 2 means that our photo voltaic system could also be extra typical and that its primordial nebula was bigger than initially thought.
The invention of Kuiper Belt 2 continues to be beneath investigation, but it surely hints at the opportunity of extra dwarf planets and even the long-theorized Planet 9. As astronomers proceed to watch these distant objects, we might uncover much more surprises within the outer reaches of our photo voltaic system as a preprint.
