00:00On this day in space. In 1992 astronomers spotted an object orbiting the Sun
00:06beyond Pluto for the very first time. Before then, Pluto was believed to be the
00:11most distant planetary body of our solar system. No one had seen anything
00:14orbiting farther out because these so-called trans-Neptunian objects were
00:17far too faint to detect with the technology they had at the time. With new
00:21digital imaging techniques, astronomers were able to spot a new and tiny world
00:24orbiting 4 billion miles beyond Neptune. Officially designated 1992 QB1
00:29this 100-mile-wide object was thousands of times fainter than Pluto. Now
00:34astronomers have confirmed more than 2,000 objects orbiting out there in what is
00:37now known as the Kuiper Belt. And that's what happened on this day in space.
Comments