Is 2004 DW a Planet?
We don’t think so. It’s probably slightly larger than half the size of Pluto and further away, but there are other big objects out there, too. Quaoar (1250 km in diameter), Varuna (900 km in diameter) and 2002 AW197 (also 900 km in diameter) are three of the biggest Kuiper Belt Objects, and they are not considered “planets” either. There are about 800 known Kuiper Belt Objects, most of which are only about 100 km in diameter, and all of which were discovered since 1992 by different scientists who have been looking for them. It’s similar to the asteroid belt, but beyond Neptune and contains maybe 100 times more material. You can read more about the Kuiper Belt at the Kuiper Belt Homepage. You can also see the article I wrote for the Sep-Oct 2003 issue of American Scientist. Note that the Kuiper Belt is also called the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt and the trans-Neptunian Belt. We think we should be able to find 5 – 10 more of these really big Kuiper Belt Objects over the next couple of years (w
