Far Out
The band of icy objects that make up the Kuiper (say Ki-Per) Belt is more than 12 to 15 billion kilometers
(2.8 billion to 9.3 billion miles) from our Sun - more than twice as far away as Pluto, the most distant
planet.
Solid Science
In 1951, astronomer Gerard Kuiper suggested that there was a belt of comet-like debris at the edge of
our solar system. But his theory wasn't confirmed until 1991 - more that 20 years after his
death.
Little Rock
Quaoar is one of the largest known Kuiper Belt Objects, but it is still much smaller than even the United
States. America is about 4,800 km (3,000 miles) across while Quaoar is only about 1,290 km (800 miles)
in diameter. No wonder it was so hard to spot.