Pluto may no longer be seen as a planet; but this dwarf planet and its icy neighbors in the Kuiper Belt are about to be in the limelight once again.
One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s first missions this year will be a program to study Pluto and thousands of other celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt, a region of our solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune. Known as Kuiper Belt objects or trans-Neptunian objects, these objects show a remarkable diversity in color, shape, size, grouping (such as clusters, pairs), geological and atmospheric activity. Many spacecraft, including NASA’s New Horizons mission, were only able to observe them for a short time, even as they flew near them. With Webb’s sensitive infrared cameras, scientists will be able to study objects over a longer period of time.
Solar system observing scientist Heidi Hammel said in a statement: “Using Webb, we will be able to capture some clues about how these different populations in the Kuiper Belt formed and learn about surface chemistry.”
Also, scientists hope to analyze the data to learn about the solar system’s formation years. “These are objects found in the graveyard of solar system formation,” says Jonathan Lunine, astronomer at Cornell University and interdisciplinary scientist at Webb. He added that he thinks the objects have probably existed for billions of years and could last for billions more.
Webb will also work on objects known as centaurs, which are ancient Kuiper Belt objects located somewhere between Jupiter and Neptune, whose orbits have been modified to be closer to the sun. Neptune’s moon Triton is an example of these objects. “Despite Neptune’s moon, we have evidence to suggest that there was once a Kuiper Belt object in its past that came very close to Neptune and was caught in Neptune’s orbit,” Hammel said.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in December 2021 and is expected to be fully operational this summer.
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