Distant Objects Show Solar System Extends Further Than We Knew

09 October 2023
By MIKE MCRAE



Artist's impression of a dense patch of rocks in the Kuiper Belt. (Ahmad Sarem/Getty Images)

A new method for scanning telescope images for the faintest signs of rock far beyond Pluto has uncovered evidence that our Solar System's disc of material extends far further into interstellar space than we thought.

Decades of peering into the shadows have left astronomers with the distinct impression that the diffuse field of icy boulders known as the Kuiper Belt suddenly thins out from 48 times the distance between Earth and the Sun (or 48 AU).

Belts of rubble have been seen extending for at least twice that distance around comparable stars, making our Solar System rather petite by comparison. With this new discovery, we might not be so unusual after all.

A team of astronomers led by Canada's Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre had hoped to uncover new targets for the New Horizons Probe to investigate as it journeyed through the Solar System's outer reaches.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/distant-objects-show-solar-system-extends-further-than-we-knew