The Kuiper belt as a research area encompasses the systematic investigation of the trans-Neptunian region of the Solar System populated by icy planetesimals, dwarf planets, and small bodies beyond Neptune’s orbit. Research focuses on the dynamical structure, composition, and collisional evolution of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) to constrain models of planetary formation, migration, and early Solar System architecture. This field integrates observational surveys, orbital dynamics, spectroscopy, and thermophysical modeling to characterize size distributions, surface and volatile properties, and resonant populations, and to understand the Kuiper belt’s role as a reservoir for short-period comets and as a probe of primordial circumstellar disk conditions.
Following its longest hibernation period ever of nearly a year, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has emerged in good health and is ready to begin transmitting science data gathered in the distant Kuiper Belt far beyond Pluto.
Space Exploration
7 hours ago
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Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists are using a solar wind forecasting method combined with analytic and numerical heliosphere models to find out where the first plasma boundary of the outer heliosphere lies as ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 22, 2026
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Neptune's far-flung moon Nereid may be the last of the planet's original companions that managed to survive a cosmic crash, scientists reported Wednesday.
Planetary Sciences
May 20, 2026
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84
A team of professional and amateur Japanese astronomers have found evidence for a thin atmosphere around a small body in the outer solar system. The object is so small that it should not have a sustainable atmosphere, raising ...
Astronomy
May 4, 2026
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Using preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 2, 2026
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84
Neptune is the solar system's most distant planet, a cold, blue ice giant sitting nearly 30 times further from the sun than Earth. At that remote distance, temperatures plunge to nearly minus 200 degrees Celsius and a single ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 29, 2026
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Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that the spinning of a small comet slowed and then reversed its direction of rotation, offering a dramatic example of how volatile activity can affect the ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 26, 2026
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Astronomers have long debated why so many icy objects in the outer solar system look like snowmen. Michigan State University researchers now have evidence of the surprisingly simple process that could be responsible for their ...
Astronomy
Feb 19, 2026
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Astronomers have long sought evidence to explain why comets at the outskirts of our own solar system contain crystalline silicates, since crystals require intense heat to form and these "dirty snowballs" spend most of their ...
Astronomy
Jan 21, 2026
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Astronomers have, for the first time, captured a detailed snapshot of planetary systems in an era long shrouded in mystery. The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS), using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter ...
Astronomy
Jan 20, 2026
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