The Kuiper belt is cryed efter the Dutch astrologue Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905-1973) an is a braid region ayont Neptune that taks in Plutock. It is noo weel kent amang astrologues that oor Sun Gird streitches oot faur ayont the leemits we aince jaloused. In fact, the’r three pairts. The first is the inward gird that gaes fae the Sun the length o Mairs takkin in the rocky warlds. The second is the ootward gird that taks in the muckle gaseous warlds fae Jubiter tae Neptune. The third pairt is the Kuiper Belt that streitches oot for billions o mile an haes intil’t millions o jeelt an icy cheils o aw kin kind o sizes an shapes, Plutock bein ane o the biggest.  Thir cheils is the left owers fae whan oor Sun Gird wis makkit 4.571 billion year syne an cuid tell us muckle anent thae early days. But thay are that faur awa an dimly lut that it is gey kittle for us here on the Yird tae see them.

But in 2014 astrologues usin the aff-warld Hubble scowp detectit a body in this airt that thay cryed Ultima Thule. Efter ettlin tae catch a better sicht o it in 2017, Ultima Thule passt richt in front o ane o the starns in the scowp’s field – garrin the starn dim a wee – an syne it wis reckont Ultima Thule wis aboot 20 mile lang an made fae twa spheres that got stuck thegither wi a neck o materials in atween. At 4 billion mile oot it is ane o the furdest cheils belangin this Sun Gird.

Whiles comets comes ben this airt as thay dae the muckle gang-roond o oor Sun Gird. The word comet haes its oreeginal in the auld Greek word meanin ‘weirin lang hair’ acause tae Greek een the tail o the comet wis hair like. Amang speakers o Scots whiles the term fiery besom is used acause the tail pits fowk in mind o the lang twigs that fanned oot fae the besoms that thay aince soopit wi. The’r twa kinds o comet. The first is the bide-awee comets that taks less nor 200 year tae gae roond the sun an oot, an the second is the lang-bidin comets that taks ower 200 year, some o them hunners o thoosands or even a million or mair year. But wi comets comes a gemm o chance. It is thocht that the pull o the gravity o Neptune, or antrin cheils fae the Oort Clood, shifts Kuiper Belt cheils an thay faw inwards as comets. Mony o thir chancy cheils haes been soukit up wi Jubiter, but whiles thay bairge intae warlds.