A little mystery, coupled with a great disappointment, surrounded the early years of this century in the search for new planets in the region of the solar system known as the “Kuiper Belt.” This search led to the discovery of several large asteroids or planetoids.
Anyone who followed the events of those years will also recall that after a period of exciting discoveries, culminating in 2003 with the finding of the significant Eris – even hailed at the time as “the tenth planet” – the flow of good news from the Kuiper Belt almost suddenly ceased. Since then, only routine discoveries and no new Eris on the horizon… This, despite the discoverers expressing optimism earlier about the possibility that this remote region could host dozens of other objects the size of Eris and Pluto.
Could it be that the Kuiper Belt mine had already exhausted its best pieces? Or perhaps, more simply, had people grown tired of searching? Or was there something else?