Kuiper belt

Main article: Kuiper belt

Plot of objects around the Kuiper belt and other asteroid

populations. J, S, U and N denotes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Orbit classification of Kuiper belt objects. Some clusters that is

subjected to orbital resonance are marked.

The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but consisting mainly of objects
composed primarily of ice.[196] It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. It is composed mainly of
small Solar System bodies, although the largest few are probably large enough to be dwarf planets.
[197]
There are estimated to be over 100,000 Kuiper belt objects with a diameter greater than 50 km
(30 mi), but the total mass of the Kuiper belt is thought to be only a tenth or even a hundredth the mass
of Earth.[38] Many Kuiper belt objects have satellites,[198] and most have orbits that are substantially
inclined (~10°) to the plane of the ecliptic.[199]

The Kuiper belt can be roughly divided into the "classical" belt and the resonant trans-Neptunian
objects.[196] The latter have orbits whose periods are in a simple ratio to that of Neptune: for example,
going around the Sun twice for every three times that Neptune does, or once for every two. The classical
belt consists of objects having no resonance with Neptune, and extends from roughly 39.4 to 47.7 AU.
[200]
Members of the classical Kuiper belt are sometimes called "cubewanos", after the first of their kind
to be discovered, originally designated 1992 QB1, (and has since been named Albion); they are still in
near primordial, low-eccentricity orbits.[201]
Currently, there is strong consensus among astronomers that five members of the Kuiper belt are dwarf
planets.[197][202] Many dwarf planet candidates are being considered, pending further data for verification.
[203]

 Pluto (29.7–49.3 AU) is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt. Pluto has a relatively
eccentric orbit, inclined 17 degrees to the ecliptic plane. Pluto has a 2:3 resonance with
Neptune, meaning that Pluto orbits twice around the Sun for every three Neptunian orbits.
Kuiper belt objects whose orbits share this resonance are called plutinos.[204] Pluto has five
moons: Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra.[205]

 Charon, the largest of Pluto's moons, is sometimes described as part of a binary

system with Pluto, as the two bodies orbit a barycenter of gravity above their surfaces
(i.e. they appear to "orbit each other").

 Orcus (30.3–48.1 AU), is in the same 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune as Pluto, and is the
largest such object after Pluto itself.[206] Its eccentricity and inclination are similar to Pluto's, but
its perihelion lies about 120° from that of Pluto. Thus, the phase of Orcus's orbit is opposite to
Pluto's: Orcus is at aphelion (most recently in 2019) around when Pluto is at perihelion (most
recently in 1989) and vice versa.[207] For this reason, it has been called the anti-Pluto.[208][209] It has
one known moon, Vanth.[210]

 Haumea (34.6–51.6 AU) was discovered in 2005.[211] It is in a temporary 7:12 orbital resonance
with Neptune.[206] Haumea possesses a ring system, two known moons
named Hiʻiaka and Namaka, and rotates so quickly (once every 3.9 hours) that it is stretched into
an ellipsoid. It is part of a collisional family of Kuiper belt objects that share similar orbits, which
suggests a giant impact on Haumea ejected fragments into space billions of years ago.[212]

 Makemake (38.1–52.8 AU), although smaller than Pluto, is the largest known object in
the classical Kuiper belt (that is, a Kuiper belt object not in a confirmed resonance with
Neptune). Makemake is the brightest object in the Kuiper belt after Pluto. Discovered in 2005, it
was officially named in 2009.[213] Its orbit is far more inclined than Pluto's, at 29°.[214] It has one
known moon, S/2015 (136472) 1.[215]

 Quaoar (41.9–45.5 AU) is the second-largest known object in the classical Kuiper belt, after
Makemake. Its orbit is significantly less eccentric and inclined than those of Makemake or
Haumea.[206] It possesses a ring system and one known moon, Weywot.[216]

Scattered disc

Main article: Scattered disc

 The orbital eccentricities and inclinations of the scattered disc
population compared to the classical and resonant Kuiper belt objects

The scattered disc, which overlaps the Kuiper belt but extends out to near 500 AU, is thought to be the
source of short-period comets. Scattered-disc objects are believed to have been perturbed into erratic
orbits by the gravitational influence of Neptune's early outward migration. Most scattered disc objects
have perihelia within the Kuiper belt but aphelia far beyond it (some more than 150 AU from the Sun).
SDOs' orbits can be inclined up to 46.8° from the ecliptic plane.[217] Some astronomers consider the
scattered disc to be merely another region of the Kuiper belt and describe scattered-disc objects as
"scattered Kuiper belt objects".[218] Some astronomers classify centaurs as inward-scattered Kuiper belt
objects along with the outward-scattered residents of the scattered disc.[219]

Currently, there is strong consensus among astronomers that two of the bodies in the scattered disc
are dwarf planets:

 Eris (38.3–97.5 AU) is the largest known scattered disc object and the most massive known
dwarf planet. Eris's discovery contributed to a debate about the definition of a planet because it
is 25% more massive than Pluto[220] and about the same diameter. It has one known
moon, Dysnomia. Like Pluto, its orbit is highly eccentric, with a perihelion of 38.2 AU (roughly
Pluto's distance from the Sun) and an aphelion of 97.6 AU, and steeply inclined to the ecliptic
plane at an angle of 44°.[221]

 Gonggong (33.8–101.2 AU) is a dwarf planet in a comparable orbit to Eris, except that it is in a
3:10 resonance with Neptune.[D 10] It has one known moon, Xiangliu.[222]

Extreme trans-Neptunian objects

Main article: Extreme trans-Neptunian object

 The current orbits of Sedna, 2012
VP113, Leleākūhonua (pink), and other very distant objects (red, brown and cyan) along with the
predicted orbit of the hypothetical Planet Nine (dark blue)

Some objects in the Solar System have a very large orbit, and therefore are much less affected by the
known giant planets than other minor planet populations. These bodies are called extreme trans-
Neptunian objects, or ETNOs for short.[223] Generally, ETNOs' semi-major axes are at least 150–250 AU
wide.[223][224] For example, 541132 Leleākūhonua orbits the Sun once every ~32,000 years, with a distance
of 65–2000 AU from the Sun.[D 11]

This population is divided into three subgroups by astronomers. The scattered ETNOs
have perihelia around 38–45 AU and an exceptionally high eccentricity of more than 0.85. As with the
regular scattered disc objects, they were likely formed as result of gravitational scattering by Neptune
and still interact with the giant planets. The detached ETNOs, with perihelia approximately between 40–
45 and 50–60 AU, are less affected by Neptune than the scattered ETNOs, but are still relatively close to
Neptune. The sednoids or inner Oort cloud objects, with perihelia beyond 50–60 AU, are too far from
Neptune to be strongly influenced by it.[223]

Currently, there is one ETNO that is classified as a dwarf planet:

 Sedna (76.2–937 AU) was the first extreme trans-Neptunian object to be discovered. It is a large,
reddish object, and it takes ~11,400 years for Sedna to complete one orbit. Mike Brown, who
discovered the object in 2003, asserts that it cannot be part of the scattered disc or the Kuiper
belt because its perihelion is too distant to have been affected by Neptune's migration.
[225]
The sednoid population is named after Sedna.[223]