1.Kuiper Belt/ Oort Clouds Objects By: Sheena Cherian and Catherine Brennan

2. A Dutch-American astronomer named Gerard P. Kuiper first proposed the idea of the Kuiper Belt in 1951 He believed there was an elliptic shape region that was filled with icy objects. This was Kuipers greatest known achievement. History of The Kuiper Belt 3. It contains small icy bodies It is a disk shaped region past the orbit of Neptune Kuiper Belt Objects? Extends from 30 to 50 AU (2.5 to 4.5 billion miles) from the Sun Short- period comets originate in the kuiper belt 4. There are many dwarf planets that are seen on the belt The largest dwarf planet is Eris, it's coated with methane ice Next is Pluto, 2006 it was discovered that it was not a planet, but only a dwarf planet Haumea rotates every 3.9 hours Makemake was discovered in 2005 Ceres is the first asteroid discovered and also the largest Kuiper Belt Objects: Planets 5. It is believed that there are over 70,000 objects in the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper belt is about 20 times larger than the asteroid belt. More Kuiper Belt Facts 6. Comets are irregular-shaped icy objects. The nucleus of a comet is made up of black mass of rock, dust and frozen gases. While comets are mostly made of water, they are also composed of ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and methane. What is a Comet? 7. When the comet approaches the Sun, it goes through sublimation. o Sublimation is the process in which a comets nucleus begins to warm, and its outer layer begins to evaporate. What Happens to the Comet? Fun Fact: The term "comet" comes from the Greek "kometes" meaning long hair, referring to the tail. 8. Jan Oort first introduced the idea of comets coming from icy bodies some where in our solar system. It is estimated that the Oort Cloud has anywhere from 0.1 to 2 trillion icy bodies in its solar orbit. History of the Oort Cloud 9. A distribution of icy objects (ammonia, water and methane) like comets orbiting around our Sun Distance around 50,000 AU or a light-year Believed to be the origin of the long-period comets in the solar system; for example comet Hale-Bopp was thought to originate from there Scientists have yet to examine Oort Cloud up close; it'll be decades before they send a craft there Oort Cloud Objects? 10. The total mass of comets in the Oort cloud at this time is about 40 times that of Earth. Halleys Comet was originated in the Oort Cloud. All objects in the Oort Cloud are known as trans-Neptunian objects. This means that they are at a greater distance form the sun then Neptune is. More Facts About the Oort Cloud 11. The scale, shape and position of the Oort cloud: 12. How the Oort Cloud surrounds our Solar System: 13. Currently: Kuiper Belt Object An object called 2001QG298 is rotating like a propeller in the kuiper belt beyond Neptune as it orbits our Sun Spins like an ecliptic plane; looks like an hourglass Researchers first noticed it in 2004 because the brightness appeared to triple every 7 hours A researcher says "The object appears faint at times because one lobe is hidden behind the other, so less area is reflecting sunlight, as the hidden component rotates back into view we can see the full hour glass shape. The reflecting area increases and the whole thing looks brighter." 14. 2001QG298 15. http://nineplanets.org/kboc.html http://www.space.com/16144-kuiper-belt-objects.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1224420/dwarf- planet http://lcogt.net/spacebook/comets-kuiper-belt-and-oort-cloud http://www.universetoday.com/32522/oort-cloud/ http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/mysterious- hourglass-object-is-spinning-in-kuiper-belt-video-140055.html http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=KBOs& Display=OverviewLong http://www.8planets.co.uk/oort-cloud-facts http://www.universetoday.com/32522/oort-cloud/ Citations: Sources