By counting such occultations, it is possible to estimate the number of bodies in the Kuiper Belt. Chen likens this to counting flying insects at night: We cannot see them in the dark, but if we were to measure how much the light of a street lamp was reduced by the insects swarming around it, we could use this to calculate their numbers.
陳文屏打比方，就像黑夜中看不到飛蛾、蚊蟲，卻可以利用路燈被遮住的程度，判斷出小蟲數量。