Relationship of the Kuiper Belt to the Oort Cloud Target Name:   Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud Produced by:   NASA and A. Feild (Space Telescope Science Institute) Copyright:  NASA Copyright Free Policy Cross Reference:   STScI-PR02-04 Date Released:  17 April 2002

• Hubble Hunts Down Binary Objects at the Fringe of Our Solar System
• Kuiper Belt Objects

This illustration shows that the Kuiper Belt is shaped like a disk [see inset diagram] and resides within the shell-like structure of the Oort Cloud. Located on the outskirts of the solar system, the Kuiper Belt is a "junkyard" of countless icy bodies left over from the solar system's formation. The Oort Cloud is a vast shell of billions of comets. The inset diagram compares Pluto's orbit with a Kuiper Belt binary object called 1998 WW31. The Kuiper Belt [the fuzzy disk] extends from inside Pluto's orbit to the edge of the solar system.