IDPs are created primarily in asteroid-asteroid collisions, from the disintegration of comets near the Sun, from collisions between Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), and from the continuous meteoroid bombardment of the moons, rings, asteroids and KBOs.
Astronomers sometimes use the alternative name Edgeworth Kuiper belt to credit Edgeworth, and KBOs are occasionally referred to as EKOs.
"The detailed images and other data that New Horizons could obtain from a KBO flyby will revolutionize our understanding of the Kuiper Belt and KBOs,"said New Horizons team member John Spencer. .
As of 2008, only five objects in the Solar System (Ceres, Eris, and the KBOs Pluto, Makemake and Haumea) are listed as dwarf planets by the IAU.
Spectral features consistent with the presence of crystalline water, NH3, CH4, and other volatiles have been detected on spectra of intermediate and large KBOs.
And because KBOs are thought to be unaltered since the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, Pluto held the potential of unlocking insights into the earliest days of planet formation.
The key to celebrity redemption is the display of not-too-abject contrition, preferably to a chatshow host, mixed with regular work, balls of steel, and Winston Churchill's motto – KBO, "Keep Buggering On".
Prialnik and Merk (2008) indeed studied the evolution of intermediate-sized objects (250 km radius), including KBOs and icy satellites, accounting for their growth phase and both early and late evolution; in all cases considered, the melting point of water ice was reached.
On 30 August 1992, using the University of Hawaii's 2.2-meter telescope at Mauna Kea, Jewitt and Luu spotted their first KBO, initiating an intense period of discovery.
MvD, KBe, KBo NvE, DS, WV, LU and JJE planned and designed the study.
