New Horizons expanded the boundaries of the Kuiper Belt, discovered “snowmen” and other unusual objects
The Kuiper Belt may extend billions of miles further than anyone imagined. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountered Pluto in 2015, then spent an extended period in the deepest layers of the Kuiper Belt and encountered a cosmic dust storm, suggesting that the outer reaches of the Solar System may be even further away than we imagine.
Modern questions about the solar system: its speed, boundaries, hidden objects in the outer part
The solar system may be moving through space three times faster than expected. The location of the outer edge of the solar system is also a subject of debate among astronomers. Here’s a simple guide to the sizes and locations of the planets in our solar system.
Planet Nine is a hypothetical extra planet lurking in the far reaches of our solar system
For nearly a decade, astronomers have been scouring the outer reaches of the solar system for signs of a hypothetical ninth planet, to no avail. However, experts say we may finally be on the cusp of discovering it. Deep in the outer reaches of the solar system—so far from the known planets that the sun would barely be distinguishable from the nearest star—a vast, icy world may be lurking in the shadows, waiting to be discovered. More evidence has emerged of a hypothetical extra planet lurking in the farthest reaches of our solar system, and these clues lie in icy bodies that cross the orbit of Neptune on long, winding orbits around the sun.
The Oort Cloud consists of comets with million-year orbits and surrounds the solar system
The spherical shell known as the Oort Cloud is virtually invisible. Its particles are spread so thinly and so far from the light of any star, including the Sun, that astronomers simply cannot see the cloud, even though it envelops us like a blanket. It may be hard for the human mind to comprehend: a cosmic cloud so colossal that it encircles the Sun and eight planets, stretching trillions of miles into deep space.