Neptune’s orbital route hides a huge number of distant objects. Among them are the dwarf planets Pluto, Eris and Haumea, as well as 2014 MU69, past which the New Horizons spacecraft recently flew. This whole area is called the Kuiper belt. Or not?
Kuiper belt starts at a distance of 30 a. e. from the star of the solar system and extends to 55 a. e. To understand its name, you need to dive into the history of discovery. In 1930, scientists discovered Pluto, which immediately became the ninth planet and only in 2006 moved to the category of dwarf planets.
Researchers began to suspect that our system is not limited to Pluto, and more distant objects may be located outside. The first to develop this idea was the American astronomer Frederick Leonard.
Gerard Kuiper
In 1943, he was joined by Kenneth Edgeworth. He believed that behind Neptune there could be primary objects left from the time of the formation of the solar nebula. He also believed that from time to time such objects would break out of their usual orbits and be sent to us in the form of comets.
In 1951, Gerard Kuiper began to develop the hypothesis. He was repelled by the idea that in the early stages of the development of our system a stable disk with objects could have formed, but it could not survive to this day. His theory was erroneous, because in those days it was believed that Pluto was the same size as the Earth, which meant that its gravity should disperse surrounding objects, moving them closer to the territory of the Oort cloud. After that, many more different hypotheses arose, but the Kuiper belt was officially opened in 1992. This was done by astronomer David Jewitt along with graduate student Jane Lou, who managed to find the object (15760) 1992 QB1, proving that he belongs to the belt.
So, we have accumulated a fair amount of famous names. Then how to call a belt? The name Kuiper Belt is most often used, but you will be mistaken if you use it. The official name is “Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt.” He was chosen to honor the merits of both scientists.
However, not everyone agrees with this choice. For example, astronomer Brian Marsden believed that none of these scientists had anything to do with the discovery, because they described a completely different view of the territory behind Neptune. As a discoverer, he calls Fred Whipple, who in 1964 described this area as a “cometary belt.”
The controversy continues to this day. It is difficult to name a particular discoverer of the belt. To reduce passions, they suggest using the term “trans-Neptunian objects” or even “trans-Neptune belt”. The question remains open. But now you can’t go wrong if you use the official name - “Edgeworth-Kuiper belt”.
