#kuiperbelt — Public Fediverse posts

"Pluto-like world’s thin atmosphere poses a mystery" by @cosmiclog / @alanboyle - A thin atmosphere may have been observed around a #KuiperBelt object a quarter Pluto's size. As the minor planet crossed in front of a star, telescopes saw light go out and come back slowly rather than instantly. And since Alan is author of "The Case for Pluto" book, he mentions a recent public discussion among politicians about reclassifying Pluto as a planet. https://cosmiclog.com/2026/05/08/pluto-like-worlds-thin-atmosphere-poses-a-mystery/ #astronomy #planetary #science

Just catching up with this week's big news from the #KuiperBelt - about a mini-world that shouldn't have an atmosphere but apparently does. I also manage to wedge in a word about #Pluto. https://cosmiclog.com/2026/05/08/pluto-like-worlds-thin-atmosphere-poses-a-mystery/ #Space #TNO

Pluto-like world’s thin atmosphere poses a mystery
Scientists are puzzling over another oddball on the edge of the solar system: This time, it's an icy object less than a quarter of Pluto's size with a thin atmosphere – a layer of gas that's not typically found around objects so small.

A Japanese team of researchers — including an amate
https://cosmiclog.com/2026/05/08/pluto-like-worlds-thin-atmosphere-poses-a-mystery/
#UniverseToday #Astronomy #KuiperBelt #Pluto #SolarSystem #Space

#mwgic #2026 #space #KuiperBelt #Object #Atmosphere #Discovered

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02846-1

#mwgic #2026 #space #KuiperBelt #Object #Atmosphere #Discovered

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02846-1

"This spacecraft is so far away, it sees stars differently. Here's how it could help us navigate the cosmos" by BBC @skyatnightmag - Using parallax to compare different perspectives of telescopes on Earth and aboard the #NASA #NewHorizons probe in the #KuiperBelt, astronomers confirmed the stars Proxima Centauri and Wolf 359 appear at slightly different but mathematically expected angles against more distant background stars. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/new-horizons-stellar-parallax-experiment #astronomy #science

Scientists think they found evidence of a hidden planet beyond Neptune and they are calling it Planet Y

The Kuiper Belt is home to rocky, icy bodies left over from the formation of the solar system.…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Science #asteroidbelt #KuiperBelt #planetnine #planetx
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/162569/

Scientists think they found evidence of a hidden planet beyond Neptune and they are calling it Planet Y

The Kuiper Belt is home to rocky, icy bodies left over from the formation of the solar system.…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Science #asteroidbelt #KuiperBelt #planetnine #planetx
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/162569/

Scientists think they found evidence of a hidden planet beyond Neptune and they are calling it Planet Y

The Kuiper Belt is home to rocky, icy bodies left over from the formation of the solar system.…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #AsteroidBelt #KuiperBelt #planetnine #planetx #Science #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/142748/

Scientists think they found evidence of a hidden planet beyond Neptune and they are calling it Planet Y

The Kuiper Belt is home to rocky, icy bodies left over from the formation of the solar system.…
#NewsBeep #News #Science #asteroidbelt #CA #Canada #KuiperBelt #planetnine #planetx
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/149708/

Measuring the mean plane of the distant Kuiper belt: https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/543/1/L27/8239273 -> A Survey of the #KuiperBelt Hints at an Unseen Planet: https://eos.org/articles/a-survey-of-the-kuiper-belt-hints-at-an-unseen-planet - an analysis of more than 150 objects in the far reaches of the solar system suggests that a planet more massive than Mercury could be lurking beyond the orbit of Pluto.

A Survey of the Kuiper Belt Hints at an Unseen Planet

An analysis of more than 150 objects in the far reaches of the solar system suggests that a planet more massive than Mercury could be lurking beyond the orbit of Pluto. Suggested name: Planet Y.

https://eos.org/articles/a-survey-of-the-kuiper-belt-hints-at-an-unseen-planet

#PlanetY #KuiperBelt #planet #planets #astrodon #astronomy #space #science #news

The hunt for ‘planet nine’: why there could still be something massive at the edge of the Solar System
#Astronomy #Pluto #Neptune #Planet9 #SolarSystem #KuiperBelt #SpaceDiscovery #PlanetX #OuterSpace #Astrophysics #NASA #Sednoid #SpaceExploration
https://the-14.com/the-hunt-for-planet-nine-why-there-could-still-be-something-massive-at-the-edge-of-the-solar-system/

Where Newly Found ‘Ammonite’ Is In Solar System — And Why It Matters

2023 KQ14, nicknamed “Ammonite,” is a trans-Neptunian object that could reshape what we know about … More the…
#NewsBeep #News #Science #Ammonite #Ammoniteplanet #CA #Canada #KuiperBelt #OortCloud #sednoiddiscovery2023kq14
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/20536/

Evidence of controversial #Planet9 uncovered in sky surveys taken 23 years apart
If the object really is #PlanetNine, it would be larger than Neptune and exist 700 times further from the sun than Earth.
Planet Nine was put forward in 2016 by Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin of the California Institute of Technology to explain an unusual bunching of orbits of some objects in the #KuiperBelt, such as #Sedna.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/solar-system/evidence-of-controversial-planet-9-uncovered-in-sky-surveys-taken-23-years-apart

The discovery 🔭 has significant consequences for the understanding of those areas in the #SolarSystem behind the orbit of #Neptune. Until now, it had been assumed that although the #KuiperBelt exists there, it is “essentially empty” behind it. The discovery now suggests that this is not the case. Instead, there could be around 100 other objects that are similar in size 📏 and orbit to #2017OF https://www.heise.de/en/news/Possible-dwarf-planet-celestial-body-with-extreme-orbit-behind-Neptune-found-10397288.html

#Astronomy

"A cousin for Pluto? New dwarf planet candidate found" by @cosmiclog / @alanboyle - A computer search of archives telescope images determined Kuiper Belt Object 2017 OF201 was actually observed many more times since discovery, now with enough info to determine its orbit and a rough size. The size estimate makes it big enough to expect it has a round planetary shape. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/05/22/a-cousin-for-pluto-new-dwarf-planet-candidate-found/ #astronomy #KuiperBelt #space

As one avenue to Planet 9 closes so another one could open, this latest object will help some theories while quash others, such is the beauty of Science.

And do not anthropomorphise Pluto, it's just a minor planet, not a sad puppy being demoted.

https://cosmiclog.com/2025/05/22/a-cousin-for-pluto-new-dwarf-planet-candidate-found/

#KuiperBelt #MinorPlanets #2017OF201 #Planet9 #Astronomy #Space

NEWSToMe

#Idk
Hello
#NEWSToMe
The Solar System

[Think] -the solar system ends with the 9 planets

'Beyond them lie the Kuiper Disk and the vast, spherical Oort Cloud—a cosmic deep freeze that reaches halfway to the nearest stars

…when something jostles those frozen objects They wake up

They move inward They become comets

#CometOrigins #OortCloud #KuiperBelt #SolarSystemScience
#CosmicJourney #SpaceExploration #PlanetaryScience

Randall Carlson
https://youtube.com/shorts/HWZnsZBosmE #NEWS #PlanetBee

NEWSToMe

#Idk
Hello
#NEWSToMe
The Solar System

[Think] -the solar system ends with the 9 planets

'Beyond them lie the Kuiper Disk and the vast, spherical Oort Cloud—a cosmic deep freeze that reaches halfway to the nearest stars

…when something jostles those frozen objects They wake up

They move inward They become comets

#CometOrigins #OortCloud #KuiperBelt #SolarSystemScience
#CosmicJourney #SpaceExploration #PlanetaryScience

Randall Carlson
https://youtube.com/shorts/HWZnsZBosmE #NEWS #PlanetBee

The Kuiper Belt is a region of the Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune.

📸 Space Advances

#space #science #kuiperbelt

After writing a book about a #KuiperBelt object called #Pluto more than 15 years ago, I just had to write about a set of three (or maybe two?) Kuiper Belt objects that have stirred up quite a bit of curiosity. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/03/04/hubble-spots-potential-threesome-on-solar-systems-edge/ #Hubble #Space

Hubble spots potential threesome on solar system’s edge
Three bodies? No problem!

The "three-body problem" has traditionally referred to the devilishly tricky challenge of working out the trajectories of three objects orbiting each other in space. The concept has inspired a sci-fi trilogy about an alien invasion, plus a Netflix serie
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/03/04/hubble-spots-potential-threesome-on-solar-systems-edge/
#CosmicSpace #Altjira #HubbleSpaceTelescope #KuiperBelt #Space

Hubble spots potential threesome on solar system’s edge
Three bodies? No problem!

The "three-body problem" has traditionally referred to the devilishly tricky challenge of working out the trajectories of three objects orbiting each other in space. The concept has inspired a sci-fi trilogy about an alien invasion, plus a Netflix serie
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/03/04/hubble-spots-potential-threesome-on-solar-systems-edge/
#CosmicSpace #Altjira #HubbleSpaceTelescope #KuiperBelt #Space

Hubble spots potential threesome on solar system’s edge
Three bodies? No problem!

The "three-body problem" has traditionally referred to the devilishly tricky challenge of working out the trajectories of three objects orbiting each other in space. The concept has inspired a sci-fi trilogy about an alien invasion, plus a Netflix serie
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/03/04/hubble-spots-potential-threesome-on-solar-systems-edge/
#CosmicSpace #Altjira #HubbleSpaceTelescope #KuiperBelt #Space

Hubble spots potential threesome on solar system’s edge
Three bodies? No problem!

The "three-body problem" has traditionally referred to the devilishly tricky challenge of working out the trajectories of three objects orbiting each other in space. The concept has inspired a sci-fi trilogy about an alien invasion, plus a Netflix serie
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/03/04/hubble-spots-potential-threesome-on-solar-systems-edge/
#CosmicSpace #Altjira #HubbleSpaceTelescope #KuiperBelt #Space

Trans-Neptunian Object Altjira Is Likely a Hierarchical Triple Discovered through Non-Keplerian Motion: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad864d -> NASA's Hubble Finds #KuiperBelt Duo May Be Trio: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-007 and https://esahubble.org/images/opo2507/ and https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-finds-kuiper-belt-duo-may-be-trio/

@aturff @Spacecom @simonbp Trivia: the rock band Queen released a celebratory music video in advance of the accomplishment of #NASA's #NewHorizons Jan 1, 2019 fly-by of Ultima Thule (later officially named Arrokoth) in the #KuiperBelt, the farthest fly-by of any celestial object so far. Why? The band's guitarist Dr Brian May was one of the astronomers on the New Horizons team. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Jm5POCAj8 #astronomy #space #music

"Leaving Pluto in the dust: New Horizons probe gearing up for epic crossing of 'termination shock'" by @Spacecom - NH probe conserving fuel in case another #KBO #KuiperBelt object is found within range for a fly-by. But collecting #science data while crossing the "termination shock" at the end of the solar wind's influence around 2027 or later is currently the next plan for #NASA #NewHorizons. https://www.space.com/space-exploration/new-horizons/leaving-pluto-in-the-dust-new-horizons-probe-gearing-up-for-epic-crossing-of-termination-shock #astronomy #space

The cold chemistry of the icy outer solar system was Mondays YorkUniverse (the @AllanICarswellObservatory radio podcast), #pluto #kuiperbelt and given todays forecast, #Toronto in Feb makes a good step in the #snow direction. We've entered bagbalm (protect) your face #weather... at least our snow is water ice and not carbon dioxide 😆🥶

Our cold,cold nights episode is here: https://sites.libsyn.com/546647

#astronomy #Astrodon #science #weatherwarning #podcast #education #kuiper #dwarfplanet #dwarves

Interesting results: a "kiss-and-capture" origin for the Pluto-Charon system. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01612-0

I'm no dynamicist, but it sounds like the same scenario that probably resulted in the observed structure of Arrokoth. (Except they stuck together.)

#Space #Astronomy #Pluto #Charon #PlanetaryScience #KBO #KuiperBelt #OuterSolarSystem

❛❛ something big – often called #PlanetX – might actually be out there. And a new study by a team from #Princeton University has substantially raised the likelihood that it really exists.

The evidence comes from an apparently non-random distribution in the orientation of the #orbits of smaller outer #SolarSystem bodies known as trans-Neptunian objects or #KuiperBelt objects (KBOs). ❜❜

🔗 https://CosmosMagazine.com/space/astronomy/planet-x-solar-system/ 2024 Dec 06
🔗 https://Wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets_beyond_Neptune#Planet_X … #Planets #Neptune

#Astronomy #SpaceTime

I really enjoyed the recent Nova five-part series Solar System: Worlds. I was delighted that more than one segment touched on specific aspects of some of the worlds that I’ve incorporated into my published (and as-yet-unpublished) stories over the years.

It got me thinking about making a list of the worlds of our solar system that I’ve set stories on or worked in one way or another. I put together the table below.

Table notes:

• SETTING(S) A significant part of the story is set on (or very near) that world.
• STORY EVENT(S) Something relevant to the story pertains to that world.
• MENTIONS The world is mentioned in passing.

Earth is listed only when it plays some role other than a default setting for a story.

https://kickin-the-darkness.com/2024/11/06/story-worlds-of-the-solar-system/

#Ceres #Charon #earth #Jupiter #KuiperBelt #Mars #Mercury #Miranda #Moon #Pluto #Saturn #SF #SolarSystem #space #Titan #Triton #Uranus #Venus

in the #arXiv

Orbit of a Possible Planet X

by Amir Siraj, Christopher F. Chyba, and Scott Tremaine
https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.18170

#SolarSystem #TransNeptunianObjects #KuiperBelt #PlanetX #planet #planets #astronomy #astrophysics #astrodon #physics #space #science #STEM

Exciting new theory explaining a number of mysteries of the Outer Solar System.

Stars graze our planetary system more often than you'd think

https://www.universetoday.com/168420/a-stellar-flyby-jumbled-up-the-outer-solar-system/

#Space #Astonomy #SolarSystem #Neptune #KuiperBelt #Triton #Phoebe #Sedna #TNO

A deep analysis for New Horizons’ KBO search images: https://academic.oup.com/pasj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pasj/psae043/7684479?login=false -> A #NewHorizon for the #KuiperBelt: #Subaru Telescope's Wide-Field Observations: https://subarutelescope.org/en/results/2024/06/25/3417.html

How did Pluto get its heart? Scientists suggest an answer
The most recognizable feature on Pluto is its “heart,” a relatively bright valentine-shaped area known as Tombaugh Regio. How that heart got started is one of the dwarf planet’s deepest mysteries — but now researchers say they’ve come up with the most likely scena
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/04/15/how-did-pluto-get-its-heart-scientists-suggest-an-answer/
#UniverseToday #Astronomy #DwarfPlanets #KuiperBelt #NewHorizons #Pluto #Space

Reicht der Kuipergürtel weiter als gedacht? Die von eisigen Brocken und Staub erfüllte Außenzone unseres Sonnensystems könnte fast doppelt so groß sein wie bisher angenommen. #Kuipergürtel #Astronomie #Sonnensystem #NewHorizons #kuiperbelt
https://www.scinexx.de/news/kosmos/reicht-der-kuiperguertel-weiter-als-gedacht/

NASA’s New Horizons Detects Dusty Hints of Extended Kuiper Belt

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons/nasas-new-horizons-detects-dusty-hints-of-extended-kuiper-belt/

📷 Artist’s concept of a collision between two objects in the distant Kuiper Belt. Such collisions are a major source of dust in the belt, along with particles kicked up from #KuiperBelt objects being peppered by microscopic dust impactors from outside of the #solarsystem. Credit: Dan Durda, FIAAA

#NewHorizons #spacecraft #nasa #dust #KBOs #astronomy #Astrodon #space #science #research #STEM #news

Webb telescope spots hints that Eris, Makemake are geologically active - Enlarge / Artist's conceptions of what the surfaces of two dwarf planet... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2004297 #planetaryscience #dwarfplanet #kuiperbelt #astronomy #makemake #science #geology #eris

🚨 News from the Kuiper Belt

SwRI scientists find evidence of geothermal processes producing methane from within icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake

➡️ press release https://swri.org/press-release/swri-scientists-find-evidence-of-geothermal-activity-within-icy-dwarf-planets

➡️ Icarus paper https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2024.115999

#MakeMake #Eris #dwarfplanets #KuiperBelt #KBO #KuiperBeltObjects #TNO #TransNeptunianObjects #icyworlds #methane #volatiles #molecules #geochemistry #cosmochemistry #astrobiology #life #planetary #science #JWST #SolarSystem #SwRI #IcarusJournal #astronomy #astrodon

#BBC 📆 2021 In 📆 1992, two #astronomers 🔭 discovered the #KuiperBelt. In 📆 2016, two professors of #PlanetaryScience at #Caltech proposed a massive #planet 🪐, between five and 10 times the size of #Earth 🌏. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210216-the-massive-planet-scientists-cant-find

"At the moment the only game in town for finding #PlanetNine is the Subaru #Telescope 🔭" 🗺️ https://graphhopper.com/maps/?point=Subaru+Telescope&layer=Esri+Satellite

The Vera Rubin #Observatory 🔭 will start searching for long period #comets ☄️ coming from the #OortCloud when it is completed 📆 2023. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210618-the-solar-systems-icy-shell-contaminated-by-other-stars 🗺️ https://graphhopper.com/maps/?point=Vera+Rubin+Observatory&layer=Esri+Satellite

#OortCloud #comet up to 230 miles wide, traveling 1 #AU per year passing by in 📆 2031 “#Comets ☄️are like #cats, you never know what they’re going to do.” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/giant-comet-oort-cloud-will-pass-sun-2031-180978048

Pictures : :cc_zero: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PIA17046_-_Voyager_1_Goes_Interstellar.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-PathsOfSpaceProbesThroughTheKuiperBelt-20190105.jpg, Halley's #comet :ccby: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halley%27s_Comet_animation.gif

#NASA’s #Webb #Telescope Finds Water, and a New Mystery
#JWST's near-infrared camera detected first known instance of #water vapor around a #comet in main #asteroid belt, also known as a main belt comet. Scientists had thought comets could preserve water ice so relatively close to the Sun, but didn't have firm evidence until now. They generally expected comets to sit in the #KuiperBelt or #OortCloud, both of which are far enough away from the Sun that ice could last.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/nasa-s-webb-finds-water-and-a-new-mystery-in-rare-main-belt-comet

#NASA and the project team for the #NewHorizons spacecraft are at loggerheads over the future of the mission. The spacecraft, which flew by #Pluto in 2015 and the #KuiperBelt object #Arrokoth in 2019, is currently in an extended mission in the Kuiper Belt conducting #astrophysics, #heliophysics, and #planetary science work. NASA last year agreed to only a two-year extended mission for New Horizons, versus the three years the project requested.

https://spacenews.com/debate-rages-about-future-of-new-horizons/

The farthest flyby ever conducted by spacecraft so far: Arrokoth (the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69) - NASA's New Horizons 2019

Full size video and more info: https://flic.kr/p/2oum62N

Mission: NASA New Horizons
Instrument: Lorri
Start time: 2019-01-01T05:26:50.103
Stop Time: 2019-01-01T05:26:58.128

Product IDs:
lor_0408626328_0x636_eng
>>>>9 Images >>>>
lor_0408626336_0x636_eng

#Space #Spacetodon #Astrodon #Solarocks #Astronomy #Arrokoth #KuiperBelt
Credit:
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/AndreaLuck