Kuiper belt

See also: Kuiper Belt

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Named after the Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper (1905–1973), who conjectured the existence of a version of the belt in 1951.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkaɪ.pə(ɹ).bɛlt/, IPA(key): /ˈkʌɪpə bɛlt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈkaɪ.pɚ.bɛlt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: Kui‧per belt

Note: Kuiper is a Dutch surname and may also be pronounced in the Dutch manner, although Gerard Kuiper himself lived in the U.S. and used the American pronunciation above. The Dutch word kuiper and the English word cooper share the same etymology and meaning, so that is another possibility.

Proper noun

the Kuiper belt

  1. (astronomy) A region of space between thirty and fifty astronomical units from the Sun, roughly confined within a thick band around the ecliptic of the Solar System, and populated by many thousands of trans-Neptunian objects.
    Synonym: Edgeworth-Kuiper belt
    Hypernym: belt
    • 2016 May 27, Luke D. Burkhart, Darin Ragozzine, Michael E. Brown, “A Deep Search for Additional Satellites around the Dwarf Planet Haumea”, in The Astronomical Journal‎[1], volume 151, number 6, archived from the original on 15 October 2025:
      Deep searches for regular satellites around Kuiper belt objects are difficult due to observational limitations, but Haumea is one of the few for which sufficient data exist.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Kuiper belt (plural Kuiper belts)

  1. (astronomy) A type of asteroid belt, expected to exist in the outer regions of planetary systems, that forms an annular belt or disc around the system's center, lies beyond the region of major-planet formation, and at its outer extent may reach the inner region of an Oort cloud.
    Hypernyms: asteroid belt, belt
    Hyponyms: Kuiper disc, Kuiper disk

References

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.