What did Gerard Kuiper discover?

Answer 1

The Kuiper belt (or Kyper Belt) [See Link] is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune at around 30 AU to approximately 55 AU from the Sun. It is home to at least three dwarf planets -- Pluto, Haumea and Makemake. While the asteroid belt is composed primarily of rock and metal, the Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles ("ices"), such as methane, ammonia and water.

Answer 2

"The Kuiper Belt was discovered in 1950 by astronomer Jan Oort"

Actually that isn't completely true. The Kuiper Belt was discovered in 1992 by David Jewitt and Jane Luu when they found the first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). Jan Oort discovered the Oort Cloud which is much farther out (50000 AU from the sun) than the Kuiper Belt (30-50 AU from the sun). The Kuiper Belt is named after astronomer Gerard Kuiper for his theories on an area in the solar system past Pluto where short-period comets derived from. Then theories of long-period comets arose...but I believe that has been proven differently as they come from Scattered Disk area of the Solar System. But to answer your question, Kuiper Belt discovered in 1992 technically, but theorized in the mid 1990s.

Answer 3

No, but he supported the theory that there might be many small planets past the orbit of Neptune, which were too faint to see. But the Kuiper Belt named for him was first suggested by Frederick Leonard in 1930, shortly after the discovery of Pluto.

In 1951, Kuiper suggested that such a collection of small, cold planets might have formed after the formation of the Solar System, but not that it still existed.

Answer 4

The Kuiper belt is far out beyond the orbit of Neptune, our solar systems farthest Major Planet and are between 30 and 55 AU from the sun. Pluto is sometimes referred to a Kuiper belt object, as are some of the other minor planets in this region of space. The Kuiper belt is a bit like the asteroid belt, in that the objects are in orbit around the sun, but its much larger and the objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia and water.

Answer 5

Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper (1905-1973) discovered two planetary moons, one each of the planets Uranus and Neptune.

- Miranda, the fifth-largest moon of Uranus, in 1948.

- Nereid, the third-largest moon of Neptune, in 1949.

He was also one of the first astronomers to identify carbon dioxide as the major gas in the atmosphere of the planet Mars.

*Although it was named for him, he had no direct involvement with the theorized Kuiper Belt of distant planetoids past Neptune.

Answer 6

It has not been "found"; the concept of the Kuiper Belt is more of a theoretical model than an actual discovery. We know that there are a LOT of assorted space rocks floating around, and it makes sense that out at the edges of the solar system, there would probably be a lot MORE random space rocks. There may even be some planet-sized (or nearly so!) bodies out there.

So far, we've discovered three objects "out there" that fit the theoretical description, but we won't really know of the theory is correct until we send probes or actual astronauts out to look around.

Answer 7

The Kuiper belt is found all the way behind Pluto (dwarf planet).

Answer 8

Probably as old as the remainder of the Solar System - about 4.3 billion years old.