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Article: Kuiper belt may hold fragments of Pluto.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- October 16, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Comets and icy debris crowded into a swathe of the outer solar system known as the Kuiper belt once collided much more frequently than they do today. One of the most violent of these collisions gouged an icy moon from Pluto, the largest member of the belt, planetary scientists believe. A new study suggests that some Kuiper-belt residents are shards of that long-ago smashup.
If the hypothesis proves correct, pieces of Pluto and its moon Charon not only roam the belt, but some may have fallen to Earth. Comets and other material leave the belt and visit the inner solar system, and some of these emigres could be chunks of the solar system's most distant planet and ...