Celestial Objects

Kuiper Belt

Trans-Neptunian Region

Citation Formats

General Reference

Space and Astronomy Atlas. "Kuiper Belt." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/kuiper-belt.

APA Style

Space and Astronomy Atlas. (n.d.). Kuiper Belt. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/kuiper-belt

BibTeX

@misc{spaceandastronomyatlas-kuiper-belt,
  author = {Space and Astronomy Atlas},
  title = {Kuiper Belt},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/celestial-objects/kuiper-belt},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Kuiper Belt is a vast disc of small icy bodies in the outer solar system extending from Neptune's orbit at about 30 AU out to roughly 50 AU, home to most of the solar system's known dwarf planets, including Pluto, Haumea and Makemake, along with thousands of smaller frozen worlds.

Facts

Object Type

Region 1

Discovery Year

1992 1

Year the first confirmed Kuiper Belt object beyond Pluto, 1992 QB1, was observed by David Jewitt and Jane Luu, confirming the belt's existence.

Sources

1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)

Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org, Kuiper belt, lead section

Quote, en.wikipedia.org, Kuiper belt, lead section

It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger, twenty times as wide and twenty to two hundred times as massive.

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