In the beginning there was nothing………………… Then BANG! Giving birth to an ever expanding existence of time, space, and matter which call the Universe In the beginning there was nothing…………………

The Kuiper Belt By: Alex & Kyle

The Discovery of the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt was discovered by this guy, Gerald Kuiper in 1951. Since the Kuiper belt was discovered by a telescope in Hawaii it couldn’t be seen by early humans and civilizations such as the ancient Greeks.

The Myth behind the Kuiper belt The Kuiper belt was formed when Achilles died. Achilles was on his way to be with the Gods and the Gods were ashamed of his death. The Gods then shattered him into millions of pieces and was then trapped between the worlds in spiritual form forever as the Kuiper belt. This myth was established by Alex since there are no known myths about the Kuiper belt because it was discovered in 1951.

The Kuiper Belt The Kuiper belt begins at Neptune’s Orbit and extends 3 million Kilometers.

The Kuiper Belt The Kuiper Belt is composed of small particles of ice and rock and is home to several dwarf planets.

Dwarf Planets of The Kuiper Belt Xena- 10th Major body from the Sun, Xena could be 1.5 times the size of Pluto Pluto- Once considered a regular planet, Pluto is currently a dwarf planet and is the 9th major body from the sun. Pluto has three satellites, Hydra, Nix, and Charon 2005 FY9(Makemake)- Dwarf Planet, it is about 4.8 billion miles from the sun and is about a third of the diameter of Pluto. 2003 EL61(Haumea)- shaped liked a football, This unusual elliptical shape is due rapid Rotation instead of a lack of gravitational pull. Sedna and Quaoar are small Kuiper Belt Objects that are made of small chunks of Ice and are geologically dead.

How the solar system effects the Kuiper Belt The Kuiper Belt was once outside of Jupiter’s orbit but as the solar system aged it migrated outward, this was caused by the same factor by which the moon is orbiting earth today, but at a faster rate. This has increased the eccentricity of the orbit as shown in this diagram:

How the Kuiper Belt affected earth and currently affects earth. The Kuiper Belt was the source of early comets bombarded the solar system and eventually built up to help form earth The Kuiper Belt now is more stable than it once was and is still the source of countless meteors

Difference between The Kuiper belt and The Asteroid Belt Objects in The Kuiper Belt are made of metal, rock, methane, an different types of ices such as liquid methane and frozen water Objects in The Asteroid Belt are carbon rich and may contain some liquid water

The origin of The Kuiper Belt The Kuiper Belt was formed when fragments that failed to completely coalesce into planets and became smaller bodies

The Future of The Kuiper Belt The future of The Kuiper Belt is not well known. Not many studies have been conducted on specifically the future of The Kuiper Belt but on the solar system itself. The Kuiper Belt is far enough from the sun that it won’t be engulfed when it turns it a red giant. When the sun finally loses some of its gravitational force The Kuiper Belt will slowly move away from its orbit and the objects will eventually go flying into space little by little until finally there is nothing left. Kuiper Belt objects will be dissolute objects speeding through deep space until time ends itself. Of coarse that will change if they crash into something as an object will stay in motion unless acted upon. Which is Isaac Newton’s Law of Inertia.

A Closing Note……….. All in all the Kuiper Belt has babbled scientists for decades with the objects it possess, how they are different than the ones we see on earth and how that relates to the future innovation and exploration of man.

A Closing Note……….. This was chosen by us because we feel as if people are not informed about the Kuiper Belt. This celestial object is important because in about a century or two we may need it as a sort of “jump start” to the stars as we may find ice which can be turned into liquid water.

Works Cited "The Solar System- The Kuiper Belt." Edinformatics N.p., 1999. Web. 9 Oct. 2009. <http://www.edinformatics.com/math_science/so lar_system/kuiper_belt.htm>. "Kuiper Belt." Wikipedia N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt>. Arnett, Bill. "The Kuiper Belt and The Oort Cloud." Nineplanets N.p., 18 Mar. 2007. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. <http://nineplanets.org/kboc.html>. Choi, Young-Jun, Merav Cohen, Rainer Merk, and Dina Prialnik. "Long Term Evolution of Objects in the Kuiper Belt Zone-Effects of Insolation and Radiogenic Heating." ScienceDirect N.p., 5 Dec. 2002. Web. 2 Nov. 2009. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WGF-47CJ2C6-6&_use>. "Solar System:Dwarf Planets." Nasa N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Dwarf&Display=OverviewLong>.

Works Cited (Cont.) "Solar System:Dwarf Planets." Nasa N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Dwarf&Display=OverviewLong>. "Xena is Out of This World." Telescopes N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. <http://www.telescopes.com/newplanetarticle.cfm>.

Special Thanks A warm thanks to Ms. Benson for guiding us through these challenging projects!!!!!

QUESTIONS?????