K is for Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is names after its discoverer Gerard Kuiper in 1992. This is the area beyond the orbit of Jupiter, but still under the gravitational pull of our Sun. It contains Pluto, other dwarf planets, and miscellaneous icy objects.  It is similar to the Asteroid Belt, but it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies, or remnants from the Solar System's formation. Although some asteroids are composed pri...