TOPICSKuiper Belt

Kuiper Belt

The large mound structures that dominate one of the lobes of the Kuiper belt object Arrokoth are similar enough to suggest a common origin, according to a new study led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Planetary Scientist and Associate Vice President Dr. Alan Stern

Large mounds on Kuiper belt object Arrokoth may have a common origin

These “building blocks” could guide further work on planetesimal formational models.

An artist's impression of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft encountering Ultima Thule (2014 MU69), a Kuiper Belt object that orbits one billion miles beyond Pluto, on Jan. 1, 2019. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Steve Gribben

Evidence of water found on Ultima Thule

Ultima Thule is located in the Kuiper Belt, beyond the orbit of Neptune. Located almost 6.5 billion kilometers from the Sun, The object is...

Artist’s impression of the newly discovered object.

Japanese astronomers spot new class of object in the Kuiper Belt

A team at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan has discovered a new class of object that has long been thought to exist in...

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

New Horizons’ new and best-yet view of Ultima Thule

As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made the first flyby of Ultima Thule on early in the New year, it keeps multiplying the wonders and...

Recent Stories