Over the past few years, astronomers have reported large objects lurking in the Kuiper belt, a distant region of the solar system that seems to be a reservoir for comets. Some of the objects seemed to be half the size of Pluto. But observations now suggest that many are much smaller than previously estimated. If confirmed, the findings will force astronomers to drastically lower their estimate of the total mass of the realm of icy objects that orbit the sun beyond Neptune.
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