Feature

On the Fringe

Astronomers look to the Kuiper belt  for clues to the solar system’s history

By Ron Cowen

- More than 2 years ago

Beyond Neptune lies a reservoir of rejects — icy debris left to roam the solar system’s dim outer limits having never coalesced into planets. But these frozen relics preserve a trove of clues about the earliest history and architecture of the solar system, astronomers are discovering.

ON THE FRINGE Pluto and other icy bodies in the Kuiper belt (illustrated here) may help scientists re-create the solar system’s past.