With reference to Kuiper Belt, consider following statements

1. It is the region of the Solar System that exists beyond the five major planets, extending from the orbit of Saturn.
2. Unlike the Asteroid Belt, it is much larger – 20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive.
3. It is similar to the asteroid belt, in that it contains many small bodies, all remnants from the Solar System’s formation.

Select the correct statement.

• The Kuiper Belt (also known as the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt) is a region of the Solar System that exists beyond the eight major planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. Hence statement 1st is incorrect.
• It is similar to the asteroid belt, in that it contains many small bodies, all remnants from the Solar System’s formation.
• Unlike the Asteroid Belt, it is much larger – 20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive.
• There have been more than a thousand objects discovered in the Kuiper Belt, and it’s theorized that there are as many as 100,000 objects larger than 100 km in diameter.

By: Shubham Tiwari