Hubble image archive
Smallest Kuiper Belt Object Detected
This is an artist's impression of a one-half-mile-diameter Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) that was detected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The icy relic from the early solar system is too small for Hubble to photograph. The object was detected when it passed in front of a background...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2009
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2009-33-2659-image
This is an artist's impression of a one-half-mile-diameter Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) that was detected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The icy relic from the early solar system is too small for Hubble to photograph. The object was detected when it passed in front of a background star, temporarily disrupting the starlight.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Description | Kuiper Belt Object |
| Distance | 4.2 billion miles (6.8 billion kilometers) |
| Dimensions | 3,200 feet across |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The science team includes: H. Schlichting (California Institute of Technology/University of Toronto), E. Ofek (California Institute of Technology/Einstein Fellow), M. Wenz (NASA/GSFC), R. Sari (California Institute of Technology/Hebrew University), A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel), M. Livio and E. Nelan (STScI), and S. Zucker (Tel Aviv University). |
| Instrument | HST>FGS |
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Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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