WHAT HAPPENS AT THE EDGE OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM?
There are thousands of objects in orbit around the sun, including numerous minor planets such as Pluto, that exist in a large field called the Kuiper Belt, which extends to around ten billion kilometers from the center of the solar system.
You’d expect the distribution of objects to fall off gradually with increasing distance from the sun, but they seem to come to a sudden halt at a point called the Kuiper Cliff. The cause might be the gravitation pull of an undiscovered planet. But at that distance from the sun, it would take a planet hundreds of years to complete one orbit, so it’s unlikely that it could keep the belt so apparently clear by itself. Instead, there could be a number of Earth-sized bodies orbiting at the edge of our solar system, keeping guard.
For now, that idea remains just a theory. But with more powerful telescopes such as the James Webb (due to be launched in 2018) set to be able to see the edge of the solar system clearly, the truth about the Kuiper Cliff may finally be revealed.
WHAT HAPPENS AT THE EDGE OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM? There are thousands of objects in orbit around the sun, including numerous minor planets such as Pluto, that exist in a large field called the Kuiper Belt, which extends to around ten billion kilometers from the center of the solar system. You’d expect the distribution of objects to fall off gradually with increasing distance from the sun, but they seem to come to a sudden halt at a point called the Kuiper Cliff. The cause might be the gravitation pull of an undiscovered planet. But at that distance from the sun, it would take a planet hundreds of years to complete one orbit, so it’s unlikely that it could keep the belt so apparently clear by itself. Instead, there could be a number of Earth-sized bodies orbiting at the edge of our solar system, keeping guard. For now, that idea remains just a theory. But with more powerful telescopes such as the James Webb (due to be launched in 2018) set to be able to see the edge of the solar system clearly, the truth about the Kuiper Cliff may finally be revealed.
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