Colonization of trans-Neptunian objects: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:36, 14 January 2022

Revision as of 19:52, 16 August 2022

Line 4:

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}

[[Image:Kuiper oort-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|leftright|Artist's rendering of the [[Kuiper belt]] and [[Oort cloud]].]]

[[Freeman Dyson]] proposed that [[trans-Neptunian object]]s, rather than [[planet]]s, are the major potential habitat of life in space.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} Several hundred billion to trillion [[comet]]-like ice-rich bodies exist outside the orbit of [[Neptune]], in the [[Kuiper belt]] and Inner and Outer [[Oort cloud]]. These may contain all the ingredients for life (water ice, ammonia, and carbon-rich compounds), including significant amounts of [[deuterium]] and [[helium-3]]. Since Dyson's proposal, the number of trans-Neptunian objects known has increased greatly.