Friday, November 13, 2026
Science

Space dust particles point to ancient heavy-oxygen water reservoir in the Kuiper belt

Way out past the asteroid belt, another belt encircles the planets in our solar system. The Kuiper belt, beyond Neptune, preserves icy bodies that escaped much of the processing experienced by objects closer to the sun. Unlike the rocky and metallic asteroid belt, Kuiper belt objects are composed mo...

Space dust particles point to ancient heavy-oxygen water reservoir in the Kuiper belt
Image: Phys.org
Way out past the asteroid belt, another belt encircles the planets in our solar system. The Kuiper belt, beyond Neptune, preserves icy bodies that escaped much of the processing experienced by objects closer to the sun. Unlike the rocky and metallic asteroid belt, Kuiper belt objects are composed mostly of frozen water, methane and ammonia, mixed with rock and dust.

Originally published at Phys.org

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