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The Largest Kuiper Belt Object Isn't Pluto Or Eris, But Triton

Posted by Soulskill on from the also-not-a-planet dept.

StartsWithABang writes: Out beyond Neptune, the last of our Solar System's gas giants, the icy graveyard of failed planetesimals lurks: the Kuiper Belt. Among these mixes of ice, snow, dust and rock are a number of worlds — possibly a few hundred — massive enough to pull themselves into hydrostatic equilibrium. The most famous among them are Pluto, the first one ever discovered, and Eris, of comparable size but undoubtedly more massive. But there's an even larger, more massive object from the Kuiper Belt than either of these, yet you never hear about it: it's Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, a true Kuiper Belt object!

3 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. AHRGhhh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    JUST LEAVE PLUTO ALONE!11

  2. Does the rock run Linux? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Funny

    One of these rocks listed in the pictures has "Makemake" for a name. I guess astronomer had one eye on the telescope, mistyping the command to compile the latest Linux kernel on the PC, and figuring out what to name it. That's a better name than "Makeinstall."

  3. No it isn't by Spy+Handler · · Score: 5, Funny

    Triton was a Kuiper belt object. Now it's not.

    How long must the discrimination go on? Surely a billion years is enough to qualify for Neptunian citizenship?