scattered disc

alternative scattered-disc · alternative scattered-disk · alternative scattered disk

1. astronomyA trans-Neptunian region of the Solar System that overlaps the outer edge of the Kuiper belt, but also extends far beyond it, and is populated sparsely by small Solar System bodies.

   The combined mass of the Kuiper belt and scattered disc is only of the order of 0.1M_🜨,^([0.1 Earth mass]) surprisingly low, but this has been a crucial clue in fathoming the evolution of the early solar system.

   2014, Alan Longstaff, Astrobiology: An Introduction, Taylor & Francis (CRC Press), page 66

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   There are presently about 200 known objects in the scattered disc, but some of their orbits are rather uncertain. Obviously, most of these objects are observed at perihelion passage, because their semimajor axes might be as large as hundreds of AU (where they would not be observable); if observational biases are taken into account, the scattered-disc population is probably as large as [that of] the classical [Kuiper] belt.

   2003, B. Bertotti, Paolo Farinella, David Vokrouhlický, Physics of the Solar System, Springer (Kluwer Academic), page 409

   2021, Ahmed Sayeed, Dawn of Life, Authors Tree Publishing, page 16, The scattered disc which overlaps the Kuiper belt but extends out to about 200 AU, is thought to be the source of short-period comets. Scattered-disc objects are thought to have been ejected into erratic orbits by the gravitational influence of Neptune's early outward migration.