Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A disk-shaped region in the outer solar system lying beyond the orbit of Neptune and extending to a distance of about 50 astronomical units, containing thousands of small icy bodies, some of which are on highly elliptical orbits, periodically visiting the inner solar system as comets.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun A region of
space between 30 and 50astronomical units from the Sun, roughly confined within a thick band around theecliptic . This area is populated by many thousands oftrans-Neptunian objects .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a disk-shaped region of minor planets outside the orbit of Neptune
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[After Gerard Kuiper, (1905–1973), Dutch-born American astronomer who speculated about the existence of such a region.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Named after the astronomer Gerard Kuiper (1905-1973); and belt.
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