Editing Kuiper Belt

The '''Kuiper Belt''' is a ring of [[asteroid]]s that orbit beyond the orbit of [[Neptune]], at a distance of some 30 to 50 [[astronomical unit]]s from the Sun. It is believed that most of these asteroids are largely composed of ice and volatile material, rather than rock or metal like the asteroids nearer the Sun.

Occasionally, planetary perturbations make an object in this belt change its orbit so it comes much nearer the Sun. It is believed that this is the origin of most short-period [[comet]]s.

The existence of this belt was hypothesided by [[Gerard Kuiper]] in 1951. A similar idea came somewhat earlier (1943) from [[Kenneth Edgeworth]], so the belt is sometimes called the '''Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt'''. The first object in this belt to be discovered was [[Pluto]] in 1930, but its existence was not definitely established until 1992.

[[Category:Astronomy]]