Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of the small icy bodies orbiting the sun in the Kuiper belt, generally having a diameter less than Pluto's. Pluto is a large Kuiper belt object that was probably captured in its present solar orbit by an encounter with the planet Neptune.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun astronomy A type of
trans-Neptunian object (TNO) (a certain type ofminor planet ) that has an orbit in the Kuiper belt (between 30-50 AU) withinclinations consistent with theecliptic .
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 bodies.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Eponym after Gerard Kuiper, who theorized about the belt's existence.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Kuiper belt object.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.