Named in honour of Gerard Kuiper, one of the first people to
posit its existence, the Kuiper Belt is a belt of icy bodies
confined to the plane of the Solar System extending beyond the
orbit of Neptune. The Kupiter Belt was thought to be the
reservoir of the short period comets. The existence of the
Kuiper Belt was confirmed in 1992 with the discovery of the
first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). Since then, almost 1,000 more
KBOs have been discovered, with the largest having diameters
equivalent to or greater than that of Pluto. Indeed, since the
discovery of large Kuiper Belt Objects, it is now understood
that Pluto is not a planet but rather it is one of the large
KBOs that populate the outer regions of the Solar System.
Current theories have the Kuiper Belt forming along with the
rest of the Solar System, though it is still a matter of debate
whether it formed in place or was pushed out to its present
position as Neptune migrated outwards. If it did form in situ,
then the region has clearly been heavily depleted