Artist’s concept of a collision between two objects in the distant Kuiper Belt. Such collisions are a major source of dust in the belt, along with particles kicked up from Kuiper Belt objects being peppered by microscopic dust impactors from outside of the solar system. Credit: Dan Durda, FIAAA

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   Fraser Cain (fraser@m.universetoday.com)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Feb-2024 21:34:31 JST Fraser Cain

   NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is exploring the Kuiper Belt, an icy region of the Solar System that includes objects like Pluto. It was expected that the spacecraft would be starting to exit the region. However, scientists were surprised to discover higher dust levels from micrometeorite collisions with Kuiper Belt Objects. This means the Kuiper Belt could extend farther from the Sun than previously estimated, or a second belt could be even farther out.

   https://www.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons/nasas-new-horizons-detects-dusty-hints-of-extended-kuiper-belt/